Search for: All records

By mid-2023, the international GEOTRACES program had released three intermediate data products (IDP2014, IDP2017, and IDP2021), and in July 2023, an update of the latest product, IDP2021v2, was issued. All IDPs consist of two parts: (1) a compilation of digital data for large numbers of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs), and (2) the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas containing almost 1,500 pre-​created section plots and 269 animated three-dimensional scenes that can be browsed via an interactive web interface. GEOTRACES IDPs are used extensively and have proven to be rich resources for research, education, and outreach. Here, we demonstrate how these resources can be used efficiently and effectively via online services. Data browsing, analysis, and visualization occur in the user’s web browser, with the IDP data remaining on a dedicated server. Users simply visit specific resource URLs to access eGEOTRACES visuals and the GEOTRACES digital data directly. We first demonstrate how to navigate the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas to view TEI sections and three-dimensional animations. We then focus on two research use cases and provide detailed hands-on instructions for creating publication-ready figures related to the marine Zn cycle. 

Dissolved iron (dFe) is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton, with vanishingly low oceanic dissolved concentrations (pico- to nanomoles per kg) known to limit growth—and thus influence primary productivity and carbon cycling—over much of the surface ocean. However, because of the considerable challenges associated with contamination-free sample collection and accurate analysis of such low dFe concentrations, the first reliable dFe measurements came only in the 1980s. Further, by 2003, despite several decades of research, there were only ~25 full-depth oceanic dFe profiles worldwide, with dust considered to be the main oceanic dFe source. Since 2008, facilitated by the extensive field campaign and rigorous intercalibration of the international GEOTRACES program, there has been an “explosion” in the availability of oceanic dFe data, with hundreds of profiles now available. Concurrently, there has been a paradigm shift to a view of the marine Fe cycle where multiple sources contribute, and some forms of dFe can be transported great distances through the intermediate and deep ocean. Here, we showcase the GEOTRACES dFe datasets across the different ocean basins, synthesize our current multi-source view of the oceanic Fe cycle, spotlight sediments as an important dFe source, and look to future directions for constraining oceanic dFe boundary exchange. 

Abstract. Tritium and helium isotope data provide key information on oceancirculation, ventilation, and mixing, as well as the rates of biogeochemicalprocesses and deep-ocean hydrothermal processes. We present here globaloceanic datasets of tritium and helium isotope measurements made by numerousresearchers and laboratories over a period exceeding 60 years. The dataset'sDOI is https://doi.org/10.25921/c1sn-9631, and the data are available athttps://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ocads/data/0176626.xml (last access: 15 March2019) or alternatelyhttp://odv.awi.de/data/ocean/jenkins-tritium-helium-data-compilation/(last access: 13 March 2019) and includes approximately 60 000 valid tritiummeasurements, 63 000 valid helium isotope determinations, 57 000 dissolvedhelium concentrations, and 34 000 dissolved neon concentrations. Somequality control has been applied in that questionable data have been flaggedand clearly compromised data excluded entirely. Appropriate metadata havebeen included, including geographic location, date, and sample depth. Whenavailable, we include water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Dataquality flags and data originator information (including methodology) arealso included. This paper provides an introduction to the dataset along withsome discussion of its broader qualities and graphics. 

This dataset consists of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas Version 2022 (SOCATv2022) data product files. The ocean absorbs one quarter of the global CO2 emissions from human activity. The community-led Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (www.socat.info) is key for the quantification of ocean CO2 uptake and its variation, now and in the future. SOCAT version 2022 has quality-controlled in situ surface ocean fCO2 (fugacity of CO2) measurements on ships, moorings, autonomous and drifting surface platforms for the global oceans and coastal seas from 1957 to 2021. The main synthesis and gridded products contain 33.7 million fCO2 values with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 μatm. A further 6.4 million fCO2 sensor data with an estimated accuracy of 5 to 10 μatm are separately available. During quality control, marine scientists assign a flag to each data set, as well as WOCE flags of 2 (good), 3 (questionable) or 4 (bad) to individual fCO2 values. Data sets are assigned flags of A and B for an estimated accuracy of better than 2 μatm, flags of C and D for an accuracy of better than 5 μatm and a flag of E for an accuracy of better than 10 μatm. Bakker et al. (2016) describe the quality control criteria used in SOCAT versions 3 to 2022. Quality control comments for individual data sets can be accessed via the SOCAT Data Set Viewer (www.socat.info). All data sets, where data quality has been deemed acceptable, have been made public. The main SOCAT synthesis files and the gridded products contain all data sets with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 µatm (data set flags of A to D) and fCO2 values with a WOCE flag of 2. Access to data sets with an estimated accuracy of 5 to 10 (flag of E) and fCO2 values with flags of 3 and 4 is via additional data products and the Data Set Viewer (Table 8 in Bakker et al., 2016). SOCAT publishes a global gridded product with a 1° longitude by 1° latitude resolution. A second product with a higher resolution of 0.25° longitude by 0.25° latitude is available for the coastal seas. The gridded products contain all data sets with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 µatm (data set flags of A to D) and fCO2 values with a WOCE flag of 2. Gridded products are available monthly, per year and per decade. Two powerful, interactive, online viewers, the Data Set Viewer and the Gridded Data Viewer (www.socat.info), enable investigation of the SOCAT synthesis and gridded data products. SOCAT data products can be downloaded. Matlab code is available for reading these files. Ocean Data View also provides access to the SOCAT data products (www.socat.info). SOCAT data products are discoverable, accessible and citable. The SOCAT Data Use Statement (www.socat.info) asks users to generously acknowledge the contribution of SOCAT scientists by invitation to co-authorship, especially for data providers in regional studies, and/or reference to relevant scientific articles. The SOCAT website (www.socat.info) provides a single access point for online viewers, downloadable data sets, the Data Use Statement, a list of contributors and an overview of scientific publications on and using SOCAT. Automation of data upload and initial data checks allows annual releases of SOCAT from version 4 onwards. SOCAT is used for quantification of ocean CO2 uptake and ocean acidification and for evaluation of climate models and sensor data. SOCAT products inform the annual Global Carbon Budget since 2013. The annual SOCAT releases by the SOCAT scientific community are a Voluntary Commitment for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14.3 (Reduce Ocean Acidification) (#OceanAction20464). More broadly the SOCAT releases contribute to UN SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific publications and high-impact reports cite SOCAT. The SOCAT community-led synthesis product is a key step in the value chain based on in situ inorganic carbon measurements of the oceans, which provides policy makers with critical information on ocean CO2 uptake in climate negotiations. The need for accurate knowledge of global ocean CO2 uptake and its (future) variation makes sustained funding of in situ surface ocean CO2 observations imperative. 

Abstract. The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million fCO2 values from 3646 data sets covering the years 1957 to 2014. This latest version has an additional 4.6 million fCO2 values relative to version 2 and extends the record from 2011 to 2014. Version 3 also significantly increases the data availability for 2005 to 2013. SOCAT has an average of approximately 1.2 million surface water fCO2 values per year for the years 2006 to 2012. Quality and documentation of the data has improved. A new feature is the data set quality control (QC) flag of E for data from alternative sensors and platforms. The accuracy of surface water fCO2 has been defined for all data set QC flags. Automated range checking has been carried out for all data sets during their upload into SOCAT. The upgrade of the interactive Data Set Viewer (previously known as the Cruise Data Viewer) allows better interrogation of the SOCAT data collection and rapid creation of high-quality figures for scientific presentations. Automated data upload has been launched for version 4 and will enable more frequent SOCAT releases in the future. High-profile scientific applications of SOCAT include quantification of the ocean sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and its long-term variation, detection of ocean acidification, as well as evaluation of coupled-climate and ocean-only biogeochemical models. Users of SOCAT data products are urged to acknowledge the contribution of data providers, as stated in the SOCAT Fair Data Use Statement. This ESSD (Earth System Science Data) "living data" publication documents the methods and data sets used for the assembly of this new version of the SOCAT data collection and compares these with those used for earlier versions of the data collection (Pfeil et al., 2013; Sabine et al., 2013; Bakker et al., 2014). Individual data set files, included in the synthesis product, can be downloaded here: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.849770. The gridded products are available here: doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.SOCAT_V3_GRID.