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Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas Database Version 2023 (SOCATv2023) (NCEI Accession 0278913)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: October 04, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00
The ocean absorbs one quarter of the global CO2 emissions from human activity. The community-led Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (www.socat.info) is key for the quantification of ocean CO2 uptake and its variation, now and in the future. SOCAT version 2023 has quality-controlled in situ surface ocean fCO2 (fugacity of CO2) measurements on ships, moorings, autonomous and drifting surface platforms for the global oceans and coastal seas from 1957 to 2023. The main synthesis and gridded products contain fCO2 values with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 μatm. Sensor fCO2 data with an estimated accuracy of 5 to 10 μatm are separately available. During quality control, marine scientists assign a flag to each data set, as well as WOCE flags of 2 (good), 3 (questionable) or 4 (bad) to individual fCO2 values. Data sets are assigned flags of A and B for an estimated accuracy of better than 2 μatm, flags of C and D for an accuracy of better than 5 μatm and a flag of E for an accuracy of better than 10 ��atm. Bakker et al. (2016) describe the quality control criteria used in SOCAT versions 3 to 2023. Quality control comments for individual data sets can be accessed via the SOCAT Data Set Viewer (www.socat.info). All data sets, where data quality has been deemed acceptable, have been made public. The main SOCAT synthesis files and the gridded products contain all data sets with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 µatm (data set flags of A to D) and fCO2 values with a WOCE flag of 2. Access to data sets with an estimated accuracy of 5 to 10 (flag of E) and fCO2 values with flags of 3 and 4 is via additional data products and the Data Set Viewer (Table 8 in Bakker et al., 2016). SOCAT publishes a global gridded product with a 1° longitude by 1° latitude resolution. A second product with a higher resolution of 0.25° longitude by 0.25° latitude is available for the coastal seas. The gridded products contain all data sets with an estimated accuracy of better than 5 µatm (data set flags of A to D) and fCO2 values with a WOCE flag of 2. Gridded products are available monthly, per year and per decade. Two powerful, interactive, online viewers, the Data Set Viewer and the Gridded Data Viewer (www.socat.info), enable investigation of the SOCAT synthesis and gridded data products. SOCAT data products can be downloaded. Matlab code is available for reading these files. Ocean Data View also provides access to the SOCAT data products (www.socat.info). SOCAT data products are discoverable, accessible and citable. The SOCAT Data Use Statement (www.socat.info) asks users to generously acknowledge the contribution of SOCAT scientists by invitation to co-authorship, especially for data providers in regional studies, and/or reference to relevant scientific articles. The SOCAT website (www.socat.info) provides a single access point for online viewers, downloadable data sets, the Data Use Statement, a list of contributors and an overview of scientific publications on and using SOCAT. Automation of data upload and initial data checks allows annual releases of SOCAT from version 4 onwards. SOCAT is used for quantification of ocean CO2 uptake and ocean acidification and for evaluation of climate models and sensor data. SOCAT products inform the annual Global Carbon Budget since 2013. The annual SOCAT releases by the SOCAT scientific community are a Voluntary Commitment for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14.3 (Reduce Ocean Acidification) (#OceanAction20464). More broadly the SOCAT releases contribute to UN SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific publications and high-impact reports cite SOCAT. The SOCAT community-led synthesis product is a key step in the value chain based on in situ inorganic carbon measurements of the oceans, which provides policy makers with critical information on ocean CO2 uptake in climate negotiations. The need for accurate knowledge of global ocean CO2 uptake and its (future) variation makes sustained funding of in situ surface ocean CO2 observations imperative.

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0278913 BAROMETRIC PRESSURE Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide - atmosphere partial pressure of carbon dioxide - water SALINITY - SURFACE WATER WATER TEMPERATURE barometric pressure sensor bubble type equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer salinometer showerhead equilibrator temperature sensor chemical meteorological physical surface underway Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Flanders Marine Institute GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde National Institute for Environmental Studies NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory NORCE Norwegian Research Centre University of Bergen, Geophysical Institute University of Colorado Boulder University of East Anglia NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Ship of Opportunity Programme (SOOP) Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) Arctic Ocean Indian Ocean North Atlantic Ocean North Pacific Ocean South Atlantic Ocean South Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean oceanography BE/VLIZ > Flanders Marine Institute, Belgium BJERKNES > Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research DE/GEOMAR > GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany DOC/NOAA/OAR/AOML > Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce DOC/NOAA/OAR/PMEL > Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce IOW > Leibniz Institute Baltic Sea Research Institute, Warnemuende, Germany JP/NIES > National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan U-BERGEN/GEOPH > Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen Ocean Carbon and Acidification Data System (OCADS) Project Coastal Carbon Project Moorings and Time Series project SOOP Coastal Carbon Project Moorings and Time Series Project Ship Of Opportunity Program (SOOP) EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY > CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS > ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE > PARTIAL PRESSURE OF CARBON DIOXIDE EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS > SURFACE SALINITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > CARBON DIOXIDE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY Data synthesis product Surface measurement SOCAT SOCATv2023 Data Synthesis Product SOCATv2023 database SOCATv2023 gridded data product ATM_PPRE EQ_PRE EQ_TMP SSS SST fCO2 BAROMETERS > BAROMETERS CO2 ANALYZERS > CO2 ANALYZERS EQUILIBRATORS SALINOMETERS TEMPERATURE SENSORS > TEMPERATURE SENSORS OCEAN > ARCTIC OCEAN OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN > INDIAN OCEAN OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN Arctic Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean

Complete Metadata

describedByType application/octet-steam
identifier gov.noaa.nodc:0278913
issued 2023-06-14T00:00:00.000+00:00
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language []
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-383-2016",
  "https://www.socat.info/",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ncei/ocads/metadata/0282251.html",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ncei/ocads/metadata/0304549.html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1957-10-22T00:00:00+00:00/2023-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

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