Water temperature, salinity, and optical properties from an Acrobat towed vehicle during cruises for the Northern Gulf of Alaska LTER site, 2018 and 2019

This data set consists of underway data collected by a towed, underwater vehicle during cruises in the Gulf of Alaska. The vehicle is an Acrobat, a winged instrument platform that cycles between the surface and 60 m as it is towed behind a ship traveling at speeds of 5–8 knots. It is equipped with a SeaBird 49 FastCAT CTD (temperature, conductivity, and pressure) and a Wetlabs EcoPUCK optical sensor (chlorophyll a, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and backscatter). These data are combined with position information from the shipboard GPS system (logged at 1 HZ intervals) to create a 3D data set of oceanic conditions. These data were collected during 3 cruises for the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research (NGA LTER) project. SKQ201810S and SKQ201915S were collected during seasonal cruises aboard R/V Sikuliaq. NUQ201901S was collected during a special process cruise aboard R/V Nanuq focusing on the Copper River plume. After each cruise, data were assembled and corrected in MATLAB; the final data files were translated into netCDF and from that format, converted to CSV files. All three formats are provided in this dataset. These data are part of the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research (NGA LTER) program. The LTER program is a National Science Foundation–funded network of 28 sites nationwide that focus on the influence of long-term and large-scale phenomenon on ecosystems. Additional funding for sampling is provided by the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOS) via the Gulf Watch Alaska program.