Monitoring of Water Column DIC, TAlk, and pH on the Southeast U.S. Shelf and Gulf of Mexico and the Development of Ocean Acidification Indicators to Inform Marine Resource Management from 2022-08-03 to 2022-08-10 (NCEI Accession 0283335)

Increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide from human industrial activities are causing changes in global ocean carbon chemistry resulting in a reduction in pH, a process termed ocean acidification. In support of the coastal monitoring and research objectives of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), the South Florida Project Cruises (SFP) are utilized to collect water samples to measure surface water inorganic carbon and hydrographic parameters including nutrients. Samples are collected from 34 stations on a bi-monthly basis to monitor the outflow of the Shark River Slough (SRS) and red tide in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Water samples are sent to and analyzed by scientists at the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) for dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, total alkalinity and nutrient concentrations. These data are used to observe the effects of the SRS on acidification in the coastal ocean.