Abstract

This data documentation discusses the procedures and methods used to obtain total carbon dioxide (TCO₂), total alkalinity (TALK), hydrographic, and chemical data during the Research Vessel Thomas Washington Expedition TUNES-3 in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean (Section P16C). Conducted as a part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), the cruise began in Papeete, Tahiti, on August 31, 1991, and finished in Honolulu, Hawaii, on October 1, 1991. WOCE Meridional Section P16C along 150° W and between 18° S and 19° N was completed during the 31-day expedition. All 105 hydrographic and 8 large-volume stations were completed to the full water column depth. Station spacing was 30 nautical miles (nm), except between 3° N and 3° S where it was 10 nm. Twenty-five bio-optics stations were sampled for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, and at 21 stations carbon dioxide measurements were provided for the U.S. Department of Energy's CO₂ program. Hydrographic and chemical measurements made along WOCE Section P16C included pressure, temperature, salinity, and oxygen measured by conductivity, temperature, and depth sensor; and bottle salinity, oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-11, CFC-12, TCO₂, and TALK. In addition, potential temperatures were calculated from the measured variables.

The TCO₂ concentration in 652 seawater samples was determined by semiautomated coulometry using an improved version of the instrument earlier described by Johnson et al., (1985, 1987). The precision of these measurements was estimated to be better than ± 0.01%. The desired accuracy was better than ± 4 µmol/kg.

The TALK concentration in 539 seawater samples was determined by a potentiometric acid titration system that was designed and constructed at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) by David Moss and Timothy Lueker (Guenther et al. 1994a).

Seventy-one replicate samples were also collected for later shore-based reference analyses of TCO₂ and TALK by vacuum extraction and manometry in the laboratory of C. D. Keeling of SIO.

The data set is available, free of charge, as a numeric data package (NDP) from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. The NDP consists of two oceanographic data files, two FORTRAN 77 data-retrieval routine files, a documentation file, and this printed report, which describes the contents and format of all files and the procedures and methods used to obtain the data.

Keywords: carbon dioxide; total alkalinity; World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE); Pacific Ocean; hydrographic measurements; carbon cycle

Reference

• Goyet, Catherine, Peter R. Guenther, Charles D. Keeling, and Lynne D. Talley. 1996. Carbon Dioxide, Hydrographic, and Chemical Data Obtained During the R/V Thomas Washington Cruise TUNES-3 in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean (WOCE section P16C). ORNL/CDIAC-96, NDP-060. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. doi: 10.3334/CDIAC/otg.ndp060.