A uniform, quality controlled Surface Ocean CO<sub>2</sub> Atlas (SOCAT)

Abstract

A well documented, publicly available, global data set of surface ocean carbon dioxide (CO₂) parameters has been called for by international groups for nearly two decades. The Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT) project was initiated by the international marine carbon science community in 2007 with the aim of providing a comprehensive, publicly available, regularly updated, global data set of marine surface CO₂, which had been subject to quality control (QC). Many additional CO₂ data, not yet made public via the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), were retrieved from data originators, public websites and other data centres. All data were put in a uniform format following a strict protocol. Quality control was carried out according to clearly defined criteria. Regional specialists performed the quality control, using state-of-the-art web-based tools, specially developed for accomplishing this global team effort. SOCAT version 1.5 was made public in September 2011 and holds 6.3 million quality controlled surface CO₂ data points from the global oceans and coastal seas, spanning four decades (1968–2007). Three types of data products are available: individual cruise files, a merged complete data set and gridded products. With the rapid expansion of marine CO₂ data collection and the importance of quantifying net global oceanic CO₂ uptake and its changes, sustained data synthesis and data access are priorities

Global ocean carbon uptake: magnitude, variability and trends

“…Tabulation of the number of air CO 2 samples (dashed line, left axis) and surface water pCO 2 samples (solid line, right axis) taken per year. The tabulations for air samples are from NOAA/ESRL/GMD (courtesy T. Conway, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory/Global Monitoring Division) and the numbers of pCO 2 surface water samples are from the SOCAT (Surface Ocean CO 2 Atlas) database (Pfeil et al, 2012). Note the hundredfold difference in the scales of the left and right axes.…”

Carbon dioxide dynamics and fluxes in coastal waters influenced by river plumes

“…The number of projects acquiring CO 2 data in large river plumes has increased steadily over the last decade. Also, high-quality coastal CO 2 data are being banked in the international and public databases such as Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center and are being included in large data compilations such as Surface Ocean CO 2 Atlas (SOCAT, Pfeil et al 2012). Hence, in the near future, it should be possible to estimate the global air-sea CO 2 flux in river plumes with high confidence with the approach outlined previously as the number of studies acquiring CO 2 data in large river plumes increase and become available.…”

Impact of ocean acidification on escape performance of the king scallop, Pecten maximus, from Norway

“…To analyse for energetic trade-offs and associated restrictions in performance capacities under expected OA conditions, we determined clapping performance and oxygen consumption rates under resting and exercise conditions of the commercially important scallop P. maximus after long-term incubation at elevated CO 2 level. (Pfeil et al 2012).…”