OOI Global Station Papa Array CTD and Discrete Water Sampling Data from Mooring Overturning Cruises in the Gulf of Alaska from 2013 to 2023 (OOI Cruise Data project)

Abstract

The hydrographic sampling performed by OOI-CGSN (the Ocean Observatories Initiative - Coastal and Global Scale Nodes) as part of each Array turn represents a significant collection of valuable physical, chemical, and biological information. In addition to the CTD, collected hydrographic data include discrete oxygen, salinity, nutrient (nitrate, nitrite, silicate, phosphate, ammonium), chlorophyll, and carbon system measurements. These data serve several important functions. First, they are necessary for the calibration and evaluation of the moored instrumentation at each Array. Furthermore, the annual (Global) or biannual (Coastal) collection of data at the same locations provides a unique time series of a large set of water properties following established community standards and methods, independent of its association with the OOI moorings.

The analyses of collected water samples for the parameters listed above are performed by a number of outside labs on behalf of OOI-CGSN. Consequently, the water sampling data for a given cruise is distributed among a number of different files. The Discrete Sampling Summary integrates the related CTD, metadata, and discrete water sample data into a single file. Additionally, it synthesizes qualitative and quantitative information about the quality of a measurement into data quality flags for each associated parameter which follow WOCE-standards.

The final product is the Discrete Sampling Summary spreadsheet which contains the metadata, CTD data and discrete water sample data into a single spreadsheet with data quality flags.

This dataset includes hydrographic data from the Global Station Papa Array located in the Gulf of Alaska next to the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) Surface Buoy. The region is extremely vulnerable to ocean acidification, has a productive fishery, and low eddy variability. It is impacted by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and adds to a broader suite of OOI and other observatory sites in the Northeast Pacific.

For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/923122