CARINA: nutrient data in the Atlantic Ocean

[摘要] Data on carbon and carbon-relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parametersfrom previously non-publicly available cruise data sets in the Arctic,Atlantic and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged to a newdatabase: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). These data have gone throughrigorous quality control (QC) procedures to assure the highest possiblequality and consistency. The data for most of the measured parameters in theCARINA data base were objectively examined in order to quantify systematicdifferences in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control.Systematic biases found in the data have been corrected in the dataproducts, i.e. three merged data files with measured, calculated andinterpolated data for each of the three CARINA regions; Arctic MediterraneanSeas, Atlantic and Southern Ocean. Out of a total of 188 cruise entries inthe CARINA database, 98 were conducted in the Atlantic Ocean and of these 84cruises report nitrate values, 79 silicate, and 78 phosphate. Here wepresent details of the secondary QC for nutrients for the Atlantic Oceanpart of CARINA. Procedures of quality control, including crossover analysisbetween cruises and inversion analysis of all crossover data are brieflydescribed. Adjustments were applied to the nutrient values for 43 of thecruises in the Atlantic Ocean region. With these adjustments the CARINAdatabase is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP data, anoceanographic data set based on the World Hydrographic Program in the 1990s(Key et al., 2004). Based on our analysis we estimate the internal accuracyof the CARINA-ATL nutrient data to be: nitrate 1.5%; phosphate 2.6%;silicate 3.1%. The CARINA data are now suitable for accurate assessmentsof, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for modelvalidation.

[学科分类] 天文学(综合)