N: 25 S: 24 E: -27 W: -38
Description
The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is an oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project involves 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 and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-1 campaign involved a series of 5 cruises during 2012 - 2013 seeking to characterize the salinity structure and balance in a high salinity, high evaporation, and low rainfall region of the subtropical North Atlantic. It aims to resolve processes responsible for maintaining the subtropical surface salinity maximum in this region and within a 900 x 800-mile square study area centered at 25N, 38W. Two PICO moorings (PICO-1000, PICO-3000) were deployed on the Knorr cruise in September 2012 in the northern and eastern SPURS-1 domain quadrants at N24.74, W37.95 and N24.51, W37.81 respectively. The moorings contained a surface meteorological package and a "prawler", a CTD that crawls up and down the mooring line from the near-surface down to about 500m, yielding time series of salinity and temperature profile data at fixed locations. The moorings were recovered on the Endeavor-2 cruise. PICO mooring netCDF files contain georeferenced CTD profile data including salinity, temperature, potential temperature, pressure, depth, meteorological variables, GPS-Lat/Lon, and profile ID.
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Variables
The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.
For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.
| Name Sort descending | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| conductivity | Conductivity of CTD measurement | S/m | float | 1.0E+30 | 0.52499997615814 to 6.4271998405457 | 1 | N/A |
| deltasec | Time change from start of CTD profile | seconds | float | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A |
| gps_latitude | Note: Mooring went adrift on 2013-Feb-19 | degrees_north | float | N/A | 23 to 25 | 1 | N/A |
| gps_longitude | Note: Mooring went adrift on 2013-Feb-19 | degrees_east | float | N/A | -39 to -37 | 1 | N/A |
| gps_time | GPS Time on mooring | seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 0:00 | double | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A |
| latitude | Note: Mooring went adrift on 2013-Feb-19 | degrees_north | float | N/A | 23 to 25 | 1 | N/A |
| longitude | Note: Mooring went adrift on 2013-Feb-19 | degrees_east | float | N/A | -39 to -37 | 1 | N/A |
| nominal_latitude | Nominal latitude while the mooring was not adrift | degrees_north | float | N/A | 24.71 to 24.71 | 1 | N/A |
| nominal_longitude | Nominal longitude while the mooring was not adrift | degrees_east | float | N/A | -37.96 to -37.96 | 1 | N/A |
| potential_temperature | Potential temperature of CTD measurement | degrees_C | float | 1.0E+30 | -0.56746780872345 to 29.35048866272 | 1 | N/A |
| pressure | Pressure of CTD measurement | decibars | float | N/A | 2 to 496 | 1 | N/A |
| profile | Unique identifier for each feature instance | N/A | float | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A |
| salinity | Salinity of CTD measurement | psu | float | 1.0E+30 | 31.31093788147 to 37.780040740967 | 1 | N/A |
| temperature | Temperature of CTD measurement | degrees_C | float | 1.0E+30 | 0 to 29.650999069214 | 1 | N/A |
| time | Time of CTD measurement | seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 0:00 | double | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A |
| z | Depth of CTD measurement | m | float | N/A | 1 to 6396 | 1 | N/A |