Dataset: Global Transmissometer Database
Deployment: USJGOFS_SMP

The purpose of this SMP project is to analyze transmissometer data from
17 WOCE cruises and convert the data to POC using the beam attenuation:POC
relationships derived by our group during 19 JGOFS Process studies beginning
in 1989. The transmissometer data have been collected using instruments
provided by us over the last decade in the framework of WOCE and other
hydrographic programs. These new data cover transects in the North and
South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans. We
will analyze the WOCE data, convert beam attenuation to POC and compile
a computerized data base of both JGOFS and WOCE data. These data will be
available to the scientific community for the purpose of modeling ocean
carbon cycles or evaluating the output from existing models.

Time permitting, these data then will be compared with satellite
backscattering data on appropriate time and space scales of acquired
transmissometer data in an attempt to provide a global assessment of POC
using satellite-derived estimates. We will use existing algorithms for POC
or ones developed by ourselves or others in the near future for SeaWiFS data.
These POC data, integrated with CO₂ data, may allow estimates of
the amount of carbon that has either been exported from surface waters or
transformed to the DOC pool.