SPURS-2 Drifter data for the E. Tropical Pacific field campaign

The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is a NASA-funded oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project is comprised of 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, SMAP and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-2 campaign involved two month-long cruises by the R/V Revelle in August 2016 and October 2017 combined with complementary sampling on a more continuous basis over this period by the schooner Lady Amber. Focused around a central mooring located near 10N,125W, the objective of SPURS-2 was to study the dynamics of the rainfall-dominated surface ocean at the western edge of the eastern Pacific fresh pool subject to high seasonal variability and strong zonal flows associated with the North Equatorial Current and Countercurrent. A drifter is a passive Lagrangian sensor platform consisting of a surface buoy and tethered subsurface drogue. Drifter buoys contain GPS/ARGOS and satellite data transmitters, with sensors measuring temperature and other properties. For SPURS-2, a range of drifters were deployed during both Revelle SPURS-2 cruises. These included: standard Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifters with salinity sensors added (SVP/S), Surface Contact Salinity drifters, CODE, SADOS, AOML and CARTHE-SUPRACT drifters. For each series, drifter data have been aggregrated within single netCDF data files with their corresponding drifter-IDs and associated near-surface salinity, temperature georeferenced (GPS and ARGOS) trajectory series data.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated April 7, 2025, 21:45 (UTC)
Created March 20, 2025, 19:26 (UTC)
accessLevel public
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harvest_source_id 44069cc8-d515-495f-9ea4-b67f76a0a7cb
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/SPUR2-DRIFT
modified 2025-04-07T16:41:37Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher SPURS Project;NASA/JPL/PODAAC
resource-type Dataset
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theme {"Earth Science"}