Abstract
Abstract. The hydrographic data reported here were collected within the framework of the Coastal Contamination, Prevention and Marine Management Project (Global Environment Facility (GEF) Patagonia), which was part of the scientific agenda of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The project goal was to strengthen efforts to improve sustainable management of marine biodiversity and reduce pollution of the Patagonia marine environment. The observational component of the project included three multidisciplinary oceanographic cruises designed to improve the knowledge base regarding the marine environment and to determine the seasonal variability of physical, biological and chemical properties of highly productive regions in the southwest South Atlantic continental shelf. The cruises were carried out on board R/V ARA Puerto Deseado, in October 2005 and March and September 2006. On each cruise, hydrographic stations were occupied along cross-shelf sections spanning the shelf from nearshore to the western boundary currents between 38° and 55° S. This paper reports the quasi-continuous vertical profiles (conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) profiles) and underway surface temperature and salinity data collected during the GEF Patagonia cruises. These data sets are available at the National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, US, doi:10.7289/V5RN35S0.
Highlights
The Argentine continental shelf is one of the largest shelf areas in the world ocean and comprises the Patagonian Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (PLME; Heileman, 2009)
The high biological productivity of the PLME sustains intense fishing activity, mostly by Argentine fleets and by other international fleets (Heileman, 2009). This large primary production leads to the absorption of large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Bianchi et al, 2005) accounting for about 1 % of the global ocean’s net annual CO2 uptake, almost four times the mean rate of CO2 uptake of the global ocean (Bianchi et al, 2009)
We briefly describe procedures of acquisition and processing of vertical conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) profiles and underway surface temperature and salinity data
Summary
The Argentine continental shelf is one of the largest shelf areas in the world ocean and comprises the Patagonian Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (PLME; Heileman, 2009). The offshore edge is marked by a sharp change in bottom slope located at 115–240 m depth (Parker et al, 1997) This region is one of the most productive in the Southern Hemisphere and supports a wide variety of marine life (Falabella et al, 2009). The high biological productivity of the PLME sustains intense fishing activity, mostly by Argentine fleets and by other international fleets (Heileman, 2009). The cruise design provided quasisynoptic observations of the nearshore tidal fronts, the midshelf region, the shelf-break front and the western edge of the Malvinas Current (e.g., Romero et al, 2006). We briefly describe procedures of acquisition and processing of vertical conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) profiles and underway surface temperature and salinity data
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