Search for: All records

Abstract. As the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth, the ocean is a cornerstone of the global carbon cycle, playing a pivotal role in modulating ocean health and regulating climate. Understanding these crucial roles requires access to a broad array of data products documenting the changing chemistry of the global ocean as a vast and interconnected system. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of 60 existing ocean carbonate chemistry data products, encompassing compilations of cruise datasets, derived gap-filled data products, model simulations, and compilations thereof. It is intended to help researchers identify and access data products that best align with their research objectives, thereby advancing our understanding of the ocean's evolving carbonate chemistry. 

Abstract In 2021, the Ocean Thematic Centre of the European Research Infrastructure “Integrated Carbon Observation System” conducted an international partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) instrument intercomparison. The goal was to understand how different types of instrumentation for the measurement of oceanpCO₂compare to each other. During the two‐week long experiment, we installed various instruments in a tank facility using natural sea water (North Sea). These included direct air–water equilibration systems and membrane‐based flow‐through instruments along with submersible sensors and instruments that are normally installed on buoys and autonomous surface vehicles. In situ instruments were installed inside the tank and the flow‐through instruments were fed the same water using a pumping system. We changed the temperature (between 10°C and 28°C) and the seawaterpCO₂(between 250 and 800μatm) to observe instrument responses over a wide range. Since there is no reference for surface oceanpCO₂measurements, we agreed on a set of instruments serving as intercomparison reference. All data from the different instruments were then compared against the intercomparison reference during periods of stable temperature andpCO₂. The study provides important information to enhance future ocean carbon monitoring networks, but makes no direct recommendation for the use of any specific sensor. A major finding is that equilibration through direct air–water contact appears to be more consistent and independent of external factors than equilibration through a membrane or photometric detection. We found several instruments with no temperature measurements at the location of equilibration or with uncalibrated temperature sensors introducing significant uncertainty in the results. 

In this paper, we outline the need for a coordinated international effort toward the building of an open-access Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas (GO 2 DAT) complying with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). GO 2 DAT will combine data from the coastal and open ocean, as measured by the chemical Winkler titration method or by sensors (e.g., optodes, electrodes) from Eulerian and Lagrangian platforms (e.g., ships, moorings, profiling floats, gliders, ships of opportunities, marine mammals, cabled observatories). GO 2 DAT will further adopt a community-agreed, fully documented metadata format and a consistent quality control (QC) procedure and quality flagging (QF) system. GO 2 DAT will serve to support the development of advanced data analysis and biogeochemical models for improving our mapping, understanding and forecasting capabilities for ocean O 2 changes and deoxygenation trends. It will offer the opportunity to develop quality-controlled data synthesis products with unprecedented spatial (vertical and horizontal) and temporal (sub-seasonal to multi-decadal) resolution. These products will support model assessment, improvement and evaluation as well as the development of climate and ocean health indicators. They will further support the decision-making processes associated with the emerging blue economy, the conservation of marine resources and their associated ecosystem services and the development of management tools required by a diverse community of users (e.g., environmental agencies, aquaculture, and fishing sectors). A better knowledge base of the spatial and temporal variations of marine O 2 will improve our understanding of the ocean O 2 budget, and allow better quantification of the Earth’s carbon and heat budgets. With the ever-increasing need to protect and sustainably manage ocean services, GO 2 DAT will allow scientists to fully harness the increasing volumes of O 2 data already delivered by the expanding global ocean observing system and enable smooth incorporation of much higher quantities of data from autonomous platforms in the open ocean and coastal areas into comprehensive data products in the years to come. This paper aims at engaging the community (e.g., scientists, data managers, policy makers, service users) toward the development of GO 2 DAT within the framework of the UN Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD) program recently endorsed by IOC-UNESCO. A roadmap toward GO 2 DAT is proposed highlighting the efforts needed (e.g., in terms of human resources). 

Abstract. The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is asynthesis effort providing regular compilations of surface to bottom oceanbiogeochemical data, with an emphasis on seawater inorganic carbon chemistryand related variables determined through chemical analysis of water samples.This update of GLODAPv2, v2.2019, adds data from 116 cruises to the previousversion, extending its coverage in time from 2013 to 2017, while also addingsome data from prior years. GLODAPv2.2019 includes measurements from morethan 1.1 million water samples from the global oceans collected on 840cruises. The data for the 12 GLODAP core variables (salinity, oxygen,nitrate, silicate, phosphate, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity,pH, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, and CCl4) have undergone extensive qualitycontrol, especially systematic evaluation of bias. The data are available intwo formats: (i) as submitted by the data originator but updated to WOCEexchange format and (ii) as a merged data product with adjustments appliedto minimize bias. These adjustments were derived by comparing the data fromthe 116 new cruises with the data from the 724 quality-controlled cruises ofthe GLODAPv2 data product. They correct for errors related to measurement,calibration, and data handling practices, taking into account any known orlikely time trends or variations. The compiled and adjusted data product isbelieved to be consistent to better than 0.005 in salinity, 1 % in oxygen,2 % in nitrate, 2 % in silicate, 2 % in phosphate, 4 µmol kg−1 in dissolved inorganic carbon, 4 µmol kg−1 in totalalkalinity, 0.01–0.02 in pH, and 5 % in the halogenated transienttracers. The compilation also includes data for several other variables,such as isotopic tracers. These were not subjected to bias comparison oradjustments. The original data, their documentation and DOI codes are available in theOcean Carbon Data System of NOAA NCEI(https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ocads/oceans/GLODAPv2_2019/, last access: 17 September 2019). Thissite also provides access to the merged data product, which is provided as asingle global file and as four regional ones – the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian,and Pacific oceans – under https://doi.org/10.25921/xnme-wr20(Olsen et al., 2019). Theproduct files also include significant ancillary and approximated data.These were obtained by interpolation of, or calculation from, measured data.This paper documents the GLODAPv2.2019 methods and provides a broad overviewof the secondary quality control procedures and results.