SeaSoar Data from the U.S. JGOFS Arabian Sea Process Study

Eleven cruises took place aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson for about sixteen months from October 1994 until January 1996. These cruises provided seasonal coverage of the annual monsoon and inter-monsoon cycles in the area southeast of Oman - from where the cruises were staged.

The monsoons of the Arabian Sea drive a uniquely intense carbon cycling system, and it is the goal of JGOFS to better understand the role of the oceans in global carbon cycling. Four cruises focused on collecting data by Seasoar, a towed undulating vehicle measuring the following parameters in the upper ocean: temperature, salinity, sigma theta, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a fluorescence, dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluorescence, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and light transmission.