Seasoar CTD data for the SPURS-1 N. Atlantic field campaign

The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is an oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project involves 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 and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-1 campaign involved a series of 5 cruises during 2012 - 2013 seeking to characterize the salinity structure and balance in a high salinity, high evaporation, and low rainfall region of the subtropical North Atlantic. It aims to resolve processes responsible for maintaining the subtropical surface salinity maximum in this region and within a 900 x 800-mile square study area centered at 25N, 38W. The Seasoar is a towed vehicle equipped with impeller-forced wings that can be rotated on command to allow the vehicle to undulate in the upper ocean. Generally, Seasoar operates between the surface and about 400 meters depth while being towed on faired cable at about eight knots. A typical dive cycle takes about 12 minutes to complete, providing an up and down profile every 3 km. For SPURS-1, a Seasoar was deployed exclusively during the Sarmiento cruise over the period 22 Mar-8 Apr, 2013 and to a maximum depth of 312m. The Seasoar towed sensor system was equipped with dual pumped temperature/conductivity sensors. The Seasoar data in netCDF form here contains a highly processed 1-meter gridded version of the original source dataset, which is comprised of temperature, conductivity, salinity, pressure observations from 1144 casts during 2013 Spring SPURS Cruise.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated September 15, 2026, 05:54 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 18:52 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 8ac6107d-ab10-490f-9d93-961b16709176
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/SPUR1-SEASR
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-07T22:16:04Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/JPL/PODAAC;SPURS Project
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 03f906bc6792365f07f7c3d6f4e061ff8a806cd756fab8361eaebc41bbabdc27
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -39.0, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 22, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -36.0, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 26}]]
temporal 2013-03-22/2013-04-08
theme {"Earth Science"}