Project: North Pacific Surface Carbon, Oxygen and Isotope Measurements from Container Ships (2008-)

This project is an ongoing time-series beginning in 2008 of measurements relevant to ocean carbon cycling and productivity on basin-wide container ship transects across the North Pacific from Hong Kong to Long Beach, California, with transects made throughout the seasonal cycle beginning in October 2008. The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of the rates and mechanisms of ocean carbon uptake from the atmosphere throughout the seasonal cycle and across spatial gradients across the basin. Sampling includes both discrete samples and continuous underway measurements. Tracers sampled in this program include triple oxygen isotopes (δ17O and δ18O), a tracer of gross primary production, oxygen/argon dissolved gas ratios, a tracer of net community production or carbon export, and carbonate system parameters (pCO2, total alkalinity, DIC, and 13C-DIC) as tracers of ocean carbon uptake and carbon cycling.