N: 35 S: 23 E: -36 W: -58
Description
The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is an oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project involves two field campaigns and a series of cruises in regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans exhibiting salinity extremes. SPURS employs a suite of state-of-the-art in-situ sampling technologies that, combined with remotely sensed salinity fields from the Aquarius/SAC-D and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-1 campaign involved a series of 5 cruises during 2012 - 2013 seeking to characterize the salinity structure and balance in a high salinity, high evaporation, and low rainfall region of the subtropical North Atlantic. It aims to resolve processes responsible for maintaining the subtropical surface salinity maximum in this region and within a 900 x 800-mile square study area centered at 25N, 38W. An Underway-CTD (UCTD) was deployed on 2 of the SPURS-1 cruises. An UCTD is a towed CTD instrument providing conductivity, salinity and temperature depth profile observations while underway at up to 20kts. 771 UCTD casts occurred during the Knorr and Endeavor-I cruises (6 Sept-9 Oct 2012 and 15 Mar-15 Apr 2013 respectively) utilizing an Oceanscience instrument. UCTD data files (1 per cruise) each contain the observational data for multiple deployments, binned in 1m depth intervals.
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Variables
Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.
The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.
| Name Sort descending | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| conductivity | Conductivity of UCTD measurement | S/m | float | 1.0E+30 | 0 to 6 | 1 |
| lat | latitude as estimated by comparing time to Endeavor EN522 TSG data | degrees_north | float | N/A | 23 to 33 | 1 |
| lon | longitude as estimated by comparing time to Endeavor EN522 TSG data | degrees_east | float | N/A | -58 to -37 | 1 |
| pressure | Pressure of UCTD measurement | decibars | float | N/A | -1 to 407 | 1 |
| profile | Unique identifier for each feature instance | N/A | float | N/A | N/A | 1 |
| salinity | Salinity of UCTD measurement | psu | float | 1.0E+30 | 30 to 40 | 1 |
| temperature | Temperature of UCTD measurement | degrees_C | float | 1.0E+30 | 14 to 26 | 1 |
| time | scanning occurs at 16Hz | seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 0:00 | double | N/A | N/A | 1 |
| z | Depth of UCTD measurement | m | float | N/A | -1 to 404 | 1 |