ESSDD - Latest Articles

A consistent dataset of Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry

2010-07-29T00:00:00+02:00

A consistent dataset of Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 231-257, 2010

Author(s): R. Timmermann, A. Le Brocq, T. Deen, E. Domack, P. Dutrieux, B. Galton-Fenzi, H. Hellmer, A. Humbert, D. Jansen, A. Jenkins, A. Lambrecht, K. Makinson, F. Niederjasper, F. Nitsche, O. A. Nøst, L. H. Smedsrud, and W. H. F. Smith

Sub-ice shelf circulation and freezing/melting rates in ocean general circulation models depend critically on an accurate and consistent representation of cavity geometry. Existing global or pan-Antarctic data sets have turned out to contain various inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The goal of this work is to compile independent regional fields into a global data set. We use the S-2004 global 1-min bathymetry as the backbone and add an improved version of the BEDMAP topography (ALBMAP bedrock topography) for an area that roughly coincides with the Antarctic continental shelf. The position of the merging line is individually chosen in different sectors in order to get the best out of each data set. High-resolution gridded data for ice shelf topography and cavity geometry of the Amery, Fimbul, Filchner-Ronne, Larsen C and George VI Ice Shelves, and for Pine Island Glacier are carefully merged into the ambient ice and ocean topographies. Multibeam survey data for bathymetry in the former Larsen B cavity and the southeastern Bellingshausen Sea have been obtained from the data centers of Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), gridded, and blended into the existing bathymetry map. The resulting global 1-min topography data set (RTopo-1) contains maps for upper and lower ice surface heights, bedrock topography, and consistent masks for open ocean, grounded ice, floating ice, and bare land surface. The data set is available in NetCDF format from the PANGAEA database at doi:10.1594/pangaea.741917.

An improved Antarctic dataset for high resolution numerical ice sheet models (ALBMAP v1)

2010-06-28T00:00:00+02:00

An improved Antarctic dataset for high resolution numerical ice sheet models (ALBMAP v1)

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 195-230, 2010

Author(s): A. M. Le Brocq, A. J. Payne, and A. Vieli

The dataset described in this paper (ALBMAP) has been created for the purposes of high-resolution numerical ice sheet modelling of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. It brings together data on the ice sheet configuration (e.g. ice surface and ice thickness) and boundary conditions, such as the surface air temperature, accumulation and geothermal heat flux. The ice thickness and basal topography is based on the BEDMAP dataset (Lythe et al., 2001), however, there are a number of inconsistencies within BEDMAP and, since its release, more data has become available. The dataset described here addresses these inconsistencies, including some novel interpolation schemes for sub ice-shelf cavities, and incorporates some major new datasets. The inclusion of new datasets is not exhaustive, this considerable task is left for the next release of BEDMAP, however, the data and procedure documented here provides another step forward and demonstrates the issues that need addressing in a continental scale dataset useful for high resolution ice sheet modelling. The dataset provides an initial condition that is as close as possible to present-day ice sheet configuration, aiding modelling of the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to various forcings, which are, at present, not fully understood.

The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data – HOAPS-3

2010-05-19T00:00:00+02:00

The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data – HOAPS-3

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 143-194, 2010

Author(s): A. Andersson, K. Fennig, C. Klepp, S. Bakan, H. Graßl, and J. Schulz

The availability of microwave instruments on satellite platforms allows the retrieval of essential water cycle components at high quality for improved understanding and evaluation of water processes in climate modelling. HOAPS-3, the latest version of the satellite climatology "Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data" provides fields of turbulent heat fluxes, evaporation, precipitation, freshwater flux and related atmospheric variables over the global ice-free ocean. This paper describes the content, methodology and retrievals of the HOAPS climatology. A sophisticated processing chain, including all available Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) instruments aboard the satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program (DMSP) and careful inter-sensor calibration, ensures a homogeneous time-series with dense data sampling and hence detailed information of the underlying weather situations. The completely reprocessed data set with a continuous time series from 1987 to 2005 contains neural network based algorithms for precipitation and wind speed and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) based SST fields. Additionally, a new 85 GHz synthesis procedure for the defective SSM/I channels on DMSP F08 from 1989 on has been implemented. Freely available monthly and pentad means, twice daily composites and scan-based data make HOAPS-3 a versatile data set for studying ocean-atmosphere interaction on different temporal and spatial scales. HOAPS-3 data products are available via http://www.hoaps.org.

Data of hydraulic properties of North East and Central German soils

2010-05-11T00:00:00+02:00

Data of hydraulic properties of North East and Central German soils

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 131-142, 2010

Author(s): U. Schindler and L. Müller

The paper presents a data base of soil hydrological properties of North East and Central German soils. Included are measured data of the soil water retention curve and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function. Information to geo reference, soil type and horizon are given. Additional soil physical data like particle size distribution, dry bulk density, organic matter content and other variables are presented and its measurement is methodically described. The data base includes original measurement results of 278 organic and of 497 mineral soil samples from 103 sites. The mineral soils cover a wide range of texture classes and dry bulk densities. The organic soils and samples vary in dependence on the degree of decomposition and mineralization, the dry bulk density and the total porosity.

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data-mining compilation on the impacts of ocean acidification

2010-03-30T00:00:00+02:00

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data-mining compilation on the impacts of ocean acidification

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 109-130, 2010

Author(s): A.-M. Nisumaa, S. Pesant, R. G. J. Bellerby, B. Delille, J. Middelburg, J. C. Orr, U. Riebesell, T. Tyrrell, D. Wolf-Gladrow, and J.-P. Gattuso

The uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ by the oceans has led to a rise in the oceanic partial pressure of CO₂, and to a decrease in pH and carbonate ion concentration. This modification of the marine carbonate system is referred to as ocean acidification. Numerous papers report the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms and communities but few have provided details concerning full carbonate chemistry and complementary observations. Additionally, carbonate system variables are often reported in different units, calculated using different sets of dissociation constants and on different pH scales. Hence the direct comparison of experimental results has been problematic and often misleading. The need was identified to (1) gather data on carbonate chemistry, biological and biogeochemical properties, and other ancillary data from published experimental data, (2) transform the information into common framework, and (3) make data freely available. The present paper is the outcome of an effort to integrate ocean carbonate chemistry data from the literature which has been supported by the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis (EUR-OCEANS) and the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA). A total of 166 papers were identified, 86 contained enough information to readily compute carbonate chemistry variables, and 67 datasets were archived at PANGAEA – The Publishing Network for Geoscientific & Environmental Data. This data compilation is regularly updated as an ongoing mission of EPOCA.

Data access: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.735138

Measuring hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes in the Dee estuary

2010-03-03T00:00:00+01:00

Measuring hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes in the Dee estuary

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 79-107, 2010

Author(s): R. Bolaños and A. Souza

The capability of monitoring and predicting the marine environment leads to a more sustainable development of coastal and offshore regions. Therefore, the continuous measurement of environmental processes become an important source of information. The present paper shows data collected during 6 years, and in particular during 2008, in the Dee Estuary. The data aims to improve the observations of the mobile sediments in coastal areas and its forcing hydrodynamics and turbulence. Data involves the deployment of instrumented rigs measuring sediment in suspension, currents, waves, sea level, sediment size and bedforms as well as cruise work including grab sampling, CTD profiles and side-scan sonar. The data covers flood and ebb tides during spring and neap periods with moderate and mild wave events, thus, having a good coverage of the processes needed to improve knowledge of sediment transport and the parameterizations used in numerical modelling. The data, in raw and treated, is being banked at BODC (British Oceanographic Data Centre, http://www.bodc.ac.uk/) which is the formal British organization for looking after and distributing data concerning the marine environment.

Nordic Seas nutrients data in CARINA

2010-03-03T00:00:00+01:00

Nordic Seas nutrients data in CARINA

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 55-78, 2010

Author(s): J. Olafsson and A. Olsen

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e.~the three merged files with measured, calculated and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). With the adjustments, the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and is suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates, and for model validation. The Arctic Mediterranean Seas is the collective term for the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. This contribution presents an account of the quality control of the nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate) data from the Nordic Seas in CARINA. Out of the 35 cruises from the Nordic Seas included in CARINA, 33 had nutrients data. The nitrate data from 4 of these appeared to be of so poor quality that they should not be used, for phosphate this number is 7 and for silicate it is 3. We also recommend that the nitrate data from 4 of the cruises should be adjusted, for phosphate and silicate only data from one cruise should be adjusted. The final data appears consistent to 5% based on evaluation of deep data. For nitrate this corresponds to 0.6 μmol kg⁻¹, and for phosphate and silicate it corresponds to 0.04 and 0.6 μmol kg⁻¹, respectively.

NORPERM, the Norwegian Permafrost Database – a TSP NORWAY IPY legacy

2010-02-23T00:00:00+01:00

NORPERM, the Norwegian Permafrost Database – a TSP NORWAY IPY legacy

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 27-54, 2010

Author(s): H. Juliussen, H. H. Christiansen, G. S. Strand, S. Iversen, K. Midttømme, and J. S. Rønning

NORPERM – The Norwegian Permafrost Database was developed at the Geological Survey of Norway during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2009 as the main data legacy of the IPY research project Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to the Thermal State of Permafrost in Norway and Svalbard (TSP NORWAY). This paper describes the structural and technical design of NORPERM. NORPERM follows the IPY data policy of open, free, full and timely release of IPY data, and the borehole metadata description follows the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) standard. The ground temperature data infrastructure in Norway and Svalbard is also presented, focussing on the TSP NORWAY permafrost observatory installations in the North Scandinavian Permafrost Observatory and Nordenskiöld Land Permafrost Observatory, as the data providers for NORPERM. Further developments of the database, possibly towards a regional database for the Nordic area, are also discussed.

The purpose of NORPERM is to store ground temperature data safely and in a standard format for use in future research. NORPERM stores temperature time series from various depths in boreholes and from the air, snow cover, ground-surface or upper ground layer recorded by miniature temperature data-loggers, and temperature profiles with depth in boreholes obtained by occasional manual logging. It contains all the temperature data from the TSP NORWAY research project, totalling 32 boreholes and 98 sites with miniature temperature data-loggers for continuous monitoring of micrometeorological conditions, and 6 temperature depth profiles obtained by manual borehole logging. The amount of data in the database will gradually increase as data from older, previous projects are added. NORPERM also provides links to near real-time permafrost temperatures obtained by GSM data transfer.

CARINA TCO₂ data in the Atlantic Ocean

2010-01-11T00:00:00+01:00

CARINA TCO₂ data in the Atlantic Ocean

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 3, 1-26, 2010

Author(s): D. Pierrot, P. Brown, S. Van Heuven, T. Tanhua, U. Schuster, R. Wanninkhof, and R. M. Key

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.

The CARINA data synthesis project: introduction and overview

2009-12-03T00:00:00+01:00

The CARINA data synthesis project: introduction and overview

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 579-624, 2009

Author(s): R. M. Key, T. Tanhua, A. Olsen, M. Hoppema, S. Jutterström, C. Schirnick, S. van Heuven, A. Kozyr, X. Lin, A. Velo, D. W. R. Wallace, and L. Mintrop

The original goal of the CARINA (Carbon in Atlantic Ocean) data synthesis project was to create a merged calibrated data set from open ocean subsurface measurements by European scientists that would be generally useful for biogeochemical investigations in the North Atlantic and in particular, studies involving the carbon system. Over time the geographic extent expanded to include the entire Atlantic, the Arctic and the Southern Ocean and the international collaboration broadened significantly. In this paper we give a brief history of the project, a general overview of data included and an outline of the procedures used during the synthesis.

The end result of this project was a set of 3 data products, one for each of the listed ocean regions. It is critical that anyone who uses any of the CARINA data products recognize that the data products are not simply concatenations of the originally measured values. Rather, the data have been through an extensive calibration procedure designed to remove measurement bias and bad data. Also a significant fraction of the individual values in the data products were derived either by direct calculation or some means of approximation. These data products were constructed for basin scale biogeochemical investigations and may be inappropriate for investigations involving small areal extent or similar detailed analyses. More information on specific parts of this project can be found in companion articles in this issue. In particular, Tanhua et al. (2009) and Tanhua (2009) describe the procedures and software used to remove measurement bias from the original data.

The three data products and a significant volume of supporting information are available from the CARINA web site hosted by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC: http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/oceans/CARINA/Carina_inv.html). Anyone wanting to use the data is advised to get the highest version number of each data product. Incremental versions represent either corrections or additions. The web site documents specifics of the changes.

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA data base in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean

2009-11-11T00:00:00+01:00

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA data base in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 555-578, 2009

Author(s): C. L. Sabine, M. Hoppema, R. M. Key, B. Tilbrook, S. van Heuven, C. Lo Monaco, N. Metzl, M. Ishii, A. Murata, and S. Musielewicz

The CARINA project is aimed at gathering and providing secondary quality control checks on carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and geochemical data from cruises all across the Atlantic, Arctic and Southern Ocean. In total the project gathered 188 cruises that were not previously available to the public. Of these 188 cruises, 37 are part of the Southern Ocean. Parameters from the Southern Ocean cruises, including total carbon dioxide (TCO₂), total alkalinity, oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and silicate, were examined for cruise-to-cruise consistency. pH and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are also part of the data base, but are not discussed here. This paper focuses on the quality control of the Southern Ocean data from the Pacific sector which consisted of 29 cruises of which 17 were included in a previous synthesis called GLODAP, 11 were new cruises from the CARINA dataset, and one cruise was included in GLODAP but was updated with new data and therefore also included in CARINA. The Pacific sector quality control procedures included crossover analysis between stations and inversion analysis of all crossover data. The GLODAP data were included into the analysis as reference cruises but without applying the GLODAP recommended adjustments so the corrections could be independently verified. The outcome of this effort is an internally consistent, high-quality carbon data set for all cruises, including the reference cruises.

Nordic Seas dissolved oxygen data in CARINA

2009-10-22T00:00:00+02:00

Nordic Seas dissolved oxygen data in CARINA

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 537-553, 2009

Author(s): E. Falck and A. Olsen

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e. the three merged files with measured, calculated, and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL), and the Southern Ocean (SO). With the adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and is suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation. The Arctic Mediterranean Seas includes the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas (Greenland, Norwegian, and Iceland Seas), and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. This contribution presents an account of the quality control of the dissolved oxygen data from the Nordic Seas in CARINA. Out of the 35 cruises from the Nordic Seas included in CARINA, 32 had oxygen data. The data from 4 of these were found to be biased low and were subject to adjustment. Thus the final CARINA data product contains oxygen data from 32 cruises from the Nordic Seas, and these data appear consistent to ±1% (corresponds to ±3 μmol kg⁻¹ in the deep water).

Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean CFC data in CARINA

2009-10-16T00:00:00+02:00

Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean CFC data in CARINA

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 493-536, 2009

Author(s): E. Jeansson, K. A. Olsson, T. Tanhua, and J. L. Bullister

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e. the three merged files with measured, calculated and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). The Arctic Mediterranean Seas is comprised of the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas.

Here we present an overview of the QC of the CFC data for the Arctic Mediterranean Seas, including the chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11, CFC-12 and CFC-113, as well as carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄). For the secondary QC of the CFCs we used a combination of tools, including the evaluation of depth profiles and CFC ratios, surface saturations and a crossover analysis. This resulted in a multiplicative adjustment of some cruise data, while some other cruises were flagged with questionable quality, which excluded them from the final data product.

The Irminger Sea and the Iceland Sea time series measurements of sea water carbon and nutrient chemistry 1983–2006

2009-10-16T00:00:00+02:00

The Irminger Sea and the Iceland Sea time series measurements of sea water carbon and nutrient chemistry 1983–2006

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 477-492, 2009

Author(s): J. Olafsson, S. R. Olafsdottir, A. Benoit-Cattin, and T. Takahashi

This paper describes the ways and means of assembling and quality controling the Irminger Sea and Iceland Sea time-series biogeochemical data which are included in the CARINA data set. The Irminger Sea and the Iceland Sea are hydrographically different regions where measurements of sea water carbon and nutrient chemistry were started in 1983. The sampling is seasonal, four times a year. The carbon chemistry is studied with measurements of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater, pCO₂, and total dissolved inorganic carbon, TCO₂. The carbon chemistry data are for surface waters only until 1994 when water column sampling was initiated. Other measured parameters are salinity, dissolved oxygen and the inorganic nutrients nitrate, phosphate and silicate. Because of the CARINA criteria for secondary quality control, depth >1500 m, the IRM-TS could not be included in the routine QC and the IS-TS only in a limited way. However, with the information provided here, the quality of the data can be assessed e.g. on the basis of the results obtained with the use of reference materials.

CARINA data synthesis project: pH data scale unification and cruise adjustments

2009-10-13T00:00:00+02:00

CARINA data synthesis project: pH data scale unification and cruise adjustments

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 421-475, 2009

Author(s): A. Velo, F. F. Pérez, X. Lin, R. M. Key, T. Tanhua, M. de la Paz, S. van Heuven, S. Jutterström, and A. F. Ríos

Data on carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from previously non-publicly available cruise data sets in the Artic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), Atlantic and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged to a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic).

These data have gone through rigorous quality control (QC) procedures to assure the highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the measured parameters in the CARINA database were objectively examined in order to quantify systematic differences in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Systematic biases found in the data have been corrected in the data products, i.e. three merged data files with measured, calculated and interpolated data for each of the three CARINA regions; AMS, Atlantic and Southern Ocean. Out of a total of 188 cruise entries in the CARINA database, 59 reported pH measured values.

Here we present details of the secondary QC on pH for the CARINA database. Procedures of quality control, including crossover analysis between cruises and inversion analysis of all crossover data are briefly described. Adjustments were applied to the pH values for 21 of the cruises in the CARINA dataset. With these adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP data, an oceanographic data set based on the World Hydrographic Program in the 1990s. Based on our analysis we estimate the internal accuracy of the CARINA pH data to be 0.005 pH units. The CARINA data are now suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation.

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA database in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean

2009-10-09T00:00:00+02:00

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA database in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 367-419, 2009

Author(s): C. Lo Monaco, M. Álvarez, R. M. Key, X. Lin, T. Tanhua, B. Tilbrook, D. C. E. Bakker, S. van Heuven, M. Hoppema, N. Metzl, A. F. Ríos, C. L. Sabine, and A. Velo

Carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical ancillary data from previously not publicly available cruises were retrieved and recently merged to a new data base, CARINA. The initial North Atlantic project, an international effort for ocean carbon synthesis, was extended to include the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas) and all three sectors of the Southern Ocean. From a total of 188 cruises, 37 cruises are part of the Southern Ocean. The present work focuses on data collected in the Indian sector (20° S–70° S; 30° E–150° E). The Southern Indian Ocean dataset covers the period 1992–2004 and includes seasonal repeated observations. Parameters including dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO₂), total alkalinity (TA), oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and silicate were examined for cruise-to-cruise and overall consistency. In addition, data from an existing, quality controlled data base (GLODAP) were introduced in the CARINA analysis to improve data coverage in the Southern Ocean. A global inversion was performed to synthesize the information deduced from objective comparisons of deep measurements (>1500 m) at nearby stations (generally <220 m). The corrections suggested by the inversion were allowed to vary within a fixed envelope, thus accounting for ocean interior variability. The adjustments applied to CARINA data and those recommended for GLODAP data, in order to obtain a consistent merged dataset, are presented and discussed. The final outcome of this effort is a new quality controlled data base for TCO₂ and other properties of the carbon system that can now be used to investigate the natural variability or stability of ocean chemistry and the accumulation of anthropogenic carbon. This data product also offers an important new synthesis of seasonal to decadal observations to validate ocean biogeochemical models in a region where historical data were very sparse.

Consistency of cruise data of the CARINA database in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean

2009-08-27T00:00:00+02:00

Consistency of cruise data of the CARINA database in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 331-365, 2009

Author(s): M. Hoppema, A. Velo, S. van Heuven, T. Tanhu, R. M. Key, X. Lin, D. C. E. Bakker, F. F. Perez, A. F. Ríos, C. Lo Monaco, C. L. Sabine, M. Álvarez, and R. G. J. Bellerby

Initially a North Atlantic project, the CARINA carbon synthesis was extended to include the Southern Ocean. Carbon and relevant hydrographic and geochemical ancillary data from cruises all across the Arctic Mediterranean Seas, Atlantic and Southern Ocean were released to the public and merged into a new database as part of the CARINA synthesis effort. Of a total of 188 cruises, 37 cruises are part of the Southern Ocean, including 11 from the Atlantic sector. The variables from the Atlantic sector cruises, including dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO₂), total alkalinity, oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and silicate, were examined for cruise-to-cruise consistency. Seawater pH and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are also part of the database, but the pH quality control (QC) is described in another Earth System Science Data publication, while the complexity of the Southern Ocean physics and biogeochemistry prevented a proper QC analysis of the CFCs. The area-specific procedures of quality control, including crossover analysis between stations and inversion analysis of all crossover data (i.e. secondary QC), are briefly described for the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Data from an existing, quality controlled database (GLODAP) were used as a reference for our computations – however, the reference data were included into the analysis without applying the recommended GLODAP adjustments so the corrections could be independently verified. The outcome of this effort is an internally consistent, high-quality carbon data set for all cruises, including the reference cruises. The suggested corrections by the inversion analysis were allowed to vary within a fixed envelope, thus accounting for natural variability. The percentage of cruises adjusted ranged from 31% (for nitrate) to 54% (for phosphate) depending on the variable.

Nordic Seas total alkalinity data in CARINA

2009-08-27T00:00:00+02:00

Nordic Seas total alkalinity data in CARINA

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 309-330, 2009

Author(s): A. Olsen

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e. the three merged files with measured, calculated and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). With the adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and is suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation. The Arctic Mediterranean Seas includes the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. This contribution presents an account of the quality control of the total alkalinity (ALK) data from the Nordic Seas in CARINA. Out of the 35 cruises from the Nordic Seas included in CARINA, 21 had ALK data. The data from 6 of these were found to be of low quality and should not be used. Of the others, 3 were found to be biased low and were subject to adjustment. Thus the final CARINA data product contains ALK data from 15 cruises from the Nordic Seas, and these data appear consistent to ±3 μmol kg⁻¹.

Arctic Ocean data in CARINA

2009-08-21T00:00:00+02:00

Arctic Ocean data in CARINA

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 281-308, 2009

Author(s): S. Jutterström, L. G. Anderson, N. R. Bates, R. Bellerby, T. Johannessen, E. P. Jones, R. M. Key, X. Lin, A. Olsen, and A. M. Omar

The paper describes the steps taken for quality controlling chosen parameters within the Arctic Ocean data included in the CARINA data set and checking for offsets between the individual cruises. The evaluated parameters are the inorganic carbon parameters (total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity and pH), oxygen and nutrients: nitrate, phosphate and silicate. More parameters can be found in the CARINA data product, but were not subject to a secondary quality control. The main method in determining offsets between cruises was regional multi-linear regression, after a first rough basin-wide deep-water estimate of each parameter. Lastly, the results of the secondary quality control are discussed as well as suggested adjustments.

Atlantic Ocean CARINA data: overview and salinity adjustments

2009-08-20T00:00:00+02:00

Atlantic Ocean CARINA data: overview and salinity adjustments

Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2, 241-280, 2009

Author(s): T. Tanhua, R. Steinfeldt, R. M. Key, P. Brown, N. Gruber, R. Wanninkhof, F. Perez, A. Körtzinger, A. Velo, U. Schuster, S. van Heuven, J. L. Bullister, I. Stendardo, M. Hoppema, A. Olsen, A. Kozyr, D. Pierrot, C. Schirnick, and D. W. R. Wallace

Water column data of carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruise data sets in the Arctic, Atlantic and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have gone through rigorous quality control procedures to assure the highest possible quality and consistency. The data for the pertinent parameters in the CARINA database were objectively examined in order to quantify systematic differences in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Systematic biases found in the data have been corrected in the data products, i.e. three merged data files with measured, calculated and interpolated data for each of the three CARINA regions, i.e. Arctic, Atlantic and Southern Ocean. Ninety-eight of the cruises in the CARINA database were conducted in the Atlantic Ocean, defined here as the region south of the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland Ridge and north of about 30° S. Here we present an overview of the Atlantic Ocean synthesis of the CARINA data and the adjustments that were applied to the data product. We also report details of the secondary QC for salinity for this data set. Procedures of quality control – including crossover analysis between stations and inversion analysis of all crossover data – are briefly described. Adjustments to salinity measurements were applied to the data from 10 cruises in the Atlantic Ocean region. Based on our analysis we estimate the internal accuracy of the CARINA-ATL salinity data to be 4.1 ppm. With these adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP data, an oceanographic data set based on the World Hydrographic Program in the 1990s (Key et al., 2004), and is now suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation.

ESSDD - Latest Articles

A consistent dataset of Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry

An improved Antarctic dataset for high resolution numerical ice sheet models (ALBMAP v1)

The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data – HOAPS-3

Data of hydraulic properties of North East and Central German soils

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data-mining compilation on the impacts of ocean acidification

Measuring hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes in the Dee estuary

Nordic Seas nutrients data in CARINA

NORPERM, the Norwegian Permafrost Database – a TSP NORWAY IPY legacy

CARINA TCO2 data in the Atlantic Ocean

The CARINA data synthesis project: introduction and overview

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA data base in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean

Nordic Seas dissolved oxygen data in CARINA

Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean CFC data in CARINA

The Irminger Sea and the Iceland Sea time series measurements of sea water carbon and nutrient chemistry 1983–2006

CARINA data synthesis project: pH data scale unification and cruise adjustments

Assessing the internal consistency of the CARINA database in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean

Consistency of cruise data of the CARINA database in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean

Nordic Seas total alkalinity data in CARINA

Arctic Ocean data in CARINA

Atlantic Ocean CARINA data: overview and salinity adjustments

CARINA TCO₂ data in the Atlantic Ocean