AOML's Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division

About the F.G. Walton Smith

The F.G. Walton Smith is the primary research vessel of the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) at the University of Miami. The Smith is operated by RSMAS as part of the University National Laboratory System (UNOLS). The state-of-the-art catamaran was placed in service in 2000 and was designed to permit exploration of shallow environments such as reefs, mangroves, and grassbeds. With its home port on Virginia Key near Miami, the Smith conducts marine research studies throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and surrounding regions. For more information on the F.G. Walton Smith, follow the link to its homepage.

In October, 2011, the Ocean Carbon Cycle (OCC) group at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in collaboration with the Marine Physical Chemistry Group at RSMAS installed an automated system to measure surface pCO₂ in the wet lab aboard the F.G. Walton Smith. The installation was greatly facilitated by the cooperation of the ship's officers and crew, especially the survey technician. When the laboratory spaces were reconfigured in October, 2013, the system was moved to the dry lab. While the ship conducts the research that is the focus of a cruise, the pCO₂ instrument takes 5 air and 100 water measurements every 4.5 hours. Data files are sent to AOML electronically every day so that the system operation can be monitored. The final data are processed after a cruise is completed and then posted to international databases and to this web site.

About this Website

This web site provides access to the fugacity of CO₂ (fCO₂) data collected on this ship. Note, fCO₂ is the partial pressure pCO₂ corrected for non-ideality of the CO₂ gas; they are numerically similar (fCO₂ ≃ 0.995 pCO₂). The processed data are organized by year and by cruise. For each cruise, the color coded fCO₂ values are plotted along the ship's cruise track on a chart. Next to each chart are links to the comma-delimited data file and the associated Readme file. To download a data file, select the year from the drop-down list box and click on GO. Choose a chart and cruise, right-click on the link to its data file or Readme file, and select the download option. Please consult with and acknowledge the AOML Ocean Carbon Cycle group if data is used for publication or presentation (contacts in Master Readme, or Denis.Pierrot@noaa.gov).

The Master Readme link in the menu bar on the left provides meta data that is applicable for all data gathered from this ship. The individual Readme files next to the charts provide meta data specific to the associated cruise. The Realtime Display link displays plots of the raw xCO₂ data as a function of time and location. These plots are suitable for monitoring but are not suitable for environmental interpretation since the Realtime data has not been processed nor quality controlled.

Data Downloads

All of the data available via these web pages are also available through the F.G. Walton Smith Landing Page at NCEI. The NCEI Landing Page is organized as a table with a row for all of the cruises within a year.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-data-system/oceans/Coastal/Walton_Smith.html