CTD data collected during the SAZ-SENSE voyage, January-February 2007

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2720
See the link below for public details on this project.

The overall objective is to characterise Southern Ocean marine ecosystems, their influence on carbon dioxide exchange with the atmosphere and the deep ocean, and their sensitivity to past and future global change including climate warming, ocean stratification, and ocean ... acidification from anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In particular we plan to take advantage of naturally-occurring, persistent, zonal variations in Southern Ocean primary production and biomass in the Australian Sector to investigate the effects of iron addition from natural sources, and CO2 addition from anthropogenic sources, on Southern Ocean plankton communities of differing initial structure and composition.

These samples were collected on the SAZ-SENSE scientific voyage of the Australian Antarctic Program (Voyage 3 of the Aurora Australis, 2006-2007 season).

SAZ-SENSE VOYAGE AU0703 CTD DATA

Oceanographic measurements were collected aboard Aurora Australis cruise au0703 (voyage 3 2006/2007, 17th January to 20th February 2007) as part of the "SAZ-SENSE" experiment south of Tasmania, between 43 degrees and 55 degrees south. A total of 109 CTD vertical profile stations were taken to various depths, focussing chiefly on the upper water column. Over 1300 Niskin bottle water samples were collected for the measurement of salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (phosphate, nitrate+nitrite, silicate, ammonia and nitrite), dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, particulate organic carbon/nitrogen/silicate, dissolved and particulate barium, thorium, dissolved organic carbon, ammonium, pigments, phytoplankton, bacteria, viruses, diatoms, amino acids, and other biological parameters (list incomplete), using a 24 bottle rosette sampler. Near surface current profile data were collected by a ship mounted ADCP. Data from the array of ship's underway sensors are included in the data set.

This report describes the processing/calibration of the CTD and ADCP data, and details the data quality. An offset correction is derived for the underway sea surface temperature and salinity data, by comparison with near surface CTD data.