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Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., 3, 1-26, 2010
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CARINA TCO2 data in the Atlantic Ocean

D. Pierrot1, P. Brown2, S. Van Heuven3, T. Tanhua4, U. Schuster2, R. Wanninkhof5, and R. M. Key6
1Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, Univ. of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA
2School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
3Department of Ocean Ecosystems, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
4Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel Univ., Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
5Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA
6Princeton University, Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Forrestal Campus/Sayre Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

Abstract. Water column data of carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged in a new data base: the CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic) Project. These data have gone through rigorous quality control (QC) procedures to assure the highest possible quality and consistency. Secondary quality control, which involved objective study of data in order to quantify systematic differences in the reported values, was performed for the pertinent parameters in the CARINA data base. Systematic biases in the data have been corrected in the data products. The products are three merged data files with measured, adjusted and interpolated data of all cruises for each of the three CARINA regions (Arctic, Atlantic and Southern Ocean). Ninety-eight cruises were conducted in the "Atlantic" defined as the region south of the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland Ridge and north of about 30° S. Here we report the details of the secondary QC which was done on the total dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO2) data and the adjustments that were applied to yield the final data product in the Atlantic. Procedures of quality control – including crossover analysis between stations and inversion analysis of all crossover data – are briefly described. Adjustments were applied to TCO2 measurements for 17 of the cruises in the Atlantic Ocean region. With these adjustments, the CARINA data base is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP data, an oceanographic data set based on the WOCE Hydrographic Program in the 1990s, and is now suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, regional oceanic carbon inventories, uptake rates and model validation.

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Citation: Pierrot, D., Brown, P., Van Heuven, S., Tanhua, T., Schuster, U., Wanninkhof, R., and Key, R. M.: CARINA TCO2 data in the Atlantic Ocean, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., 3, 1-26, 2010.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager

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