Understanding climate
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40-year record of carbon dioxide in unique new dataset

A team of more than 100 scientific experts from around the world, launches today a new dataset of carbon dioxide accumulation in the surface ocean.

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This is the most comprehensive dataset of surface water carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements for the world’s oceans and coastal seas.

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) comprises 6.3 million global observations made from research vessels, commercial ships and moorings around the world since 1968. The dataset documents the changes in ocean carbon similar to the Mauna Loa record – or ‘Keeling curve’ - showing the rise in atmospheric CO2 over time. 

Dr Are Olsen, from the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, which physically assembled the dataset, said to the University of East Anglia: “The unique aspect of this dataset is that the observations have been combined into a single uniform format and quality controlled. Reformatted input data and recalculated output data are publicly available at www.pangaea.de. The methods we have used are transparent and fully documented.”
 
 
and  www.socat.info

This new dataset was assembled by a team of more than 100 scientific experts from around the world, co-ordinated by scientists from:
  • the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research/University of Bergen/Uni Research, Norway
  • the University of East Anglia in the UK
  • the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  • the University of Washington and the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center in the US
  • the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
  • the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in France.  
 
 
Contact at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research 
  • Benjamin Pfeil, Data Manager, Geophysical Institute, UiB and BCCR, phone + 47 464 74 473.  mail: benjamin.pfeil@gfi.uib.no
     
  • Are Olsen, Scientist, Chemical Oceanography, Institute of Marine Research, and BCCR, phone + 47 907 23 261. mail: are.olsen@imr.no