Historical Background Information

The Transient Tracers in the Ocean (TTO) study was an experiment to investigate ocean mixing as deduced from the distribution of radiochemical tracers introduced into the atmosphere and subsequently into the oceans during the 1958-1962 nuclear bomb tests. The results of this study together with knowledge about the chemistry of oceanic CO₂ can be used to help understand oceanic uptake of fossil fuel CO₂. The experiment lasted four years and consisted of the following parts: (1) preparation, calibration, and test cruise (1980); (2) field work (1981); (3) laboratory analysis (1982); and (4) completion, data analysis and reporting (1983). Shipboard measurements were published by the Scripps Physical and Chemical Oceanographic Data Facility as the T.T.O. Preliminary Hydrographic Data Reports Vols. I-IV. Recently, revisions to some of the previously reported measurements have been made and estimates of total CO₂ have been calculated.