N: 32.3 S: 5.06 E: -117.3 W: -155.8
Description
The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is a NASA-funded oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project is comprised of two field campaigns and a series of cruises in regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans exhibiting salinity extremes. SPURS employs a suite of state-of-the-art in-situ sampling technologies that, combined with remotely sensed salinity fields from the Aquarius/SAC-D, SMAP and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-2 campaign involved two month-long cruises by the R/V Revelle in August 2016 and October 2017 combined with complementary sampling on a more continuous basis over this period by the schooner Lady Amber. Focused around a central mooring located near 10N,125W, the objective of SPURS-2 was to study the dynamics of the rainfall-dominated surface ocean at the western edge of the eastern Pacific fresh pool subject to high seasonal variability and strong zonal flows associated with the North Equatorial Current and Countercurrent. The Salinity Snake (SS) measures sea surface salinity in the top 1 - 2 cm of the water column, which is the radiometric depth of L-Band satellite radiometers such as on Aquarius/SAC-D, SMAP and SMOS satellites that measure salinity remotely. The SS consists of four key components: a 10m boom mast, a hose, which is deployed from this boom, a powerful self-priming peristaltic pump which transports a constant stream of a seawater/air emulsion, and a shipboard apparatus, which filters, de-bubbles, sterilizes and analyses the salinity of the water. The SS was deployed during both SPURS-2 Revelle cruises. SS data series are provided in netCDF file format, one per cruise.
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Variables
Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.
The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.
| Name Sort descending | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| course_over_ground | Course over ground (degree true) as derived from shipboard navigation systems | degrees | double | N/A | 0 to 360 | 1 |
| latitude | Latitude of Salinity Snake measurement | degrees_north | double | N/A | 5.06135 to 17.161345 | 1 |
| longitude | Longitude of Salinity Snake measurement | degrees_east | double | N/A | -155.82847499992 to -123.37701 | 1 |
| salinity | Calibrated and time-corrected observed practical sea surface salinity (PSS-78) from salinity snake instrument. Time correction is applied due to the residence time of water in the hose and is calculated from cross-correlation with shipboard TSG. | 1 | double | N/A | 30.113252605634 to 34.471815273347 | 1 |
| speed_over_ground | Vessel speed over ground (m/s) as derived from shipboard GPS systems | m/s | double | N/A | 0 to 7.3565492 | 1 |
| temperature | Filtered in situ sea surface temperature (ITS-90) recorded by SBE56 temperature logger at the end of the intake hose. While this is given as subskin, the observation depth may vary from the skin to approximately 0.02 m. Filtering is done using a 10-second median filter with a 70% cutoff threshold (the lowest 70% of samples are discarded) to compensate for skin and air contact. | degrees_C | double | N/A | 26.8025 to 32.1946 | 1 |
| temperature_at_sbe45_instrument | Sea water temperature as recorded in SBE45 instrtument. This temperature should not be used except to compute conductivity in the SBE45, as it has been modified by passing through hoses, pump, and instrumentation. | degrees_C | double | N/A | 23.0015 to 34.094479027544 | 1 |
| time | Time of Salinity Snake measurement | days since 1950-01-01T00:00:00 | double | N/A | N/A | 1 |
| time_delay | Time delay in seconds applied to salinity measurements to compensate for residence time in hose, pump, and shipboard apparatus (approximately 80 liters) | s | double | N/A | N/A | 1 |