FY 1993

NOAA chlorofluorocarbon tracer program air and seawater measurements: 1986–1989

Wisegarver, D.P., J.L. Bullister, R.H. Gammon, F.A. Menzia, and K.C. Kelly

NOAA Data Report ERL PMEL-43, NTIS: PB93-190049, 417 pp (1993)

The NOAA Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) Tracer Program at PMEL has been measuring the growing burden of these anthropogenic gases in the thermocline waters of the Pacific Ocean since 1980. The central goals of the NOAA CFC Tracer Program are to document the transient invasion of the CFC tracers into the Pacific Ocean, by means of repeat occupations of key hydrographic sections at 5-year intervals, and to interpret these changing distributions in terms of coupled ocean-atmosphere models. Studies are underway to use the CFC observations in model-validation studies, and to help develop predictive capabilities on the decade-to-century timescale. This report includes measurements of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) and dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12) dissolved in seawater samples collected in the Pacific Ocean by the NOAA CFC Tracer Program on six cruises during the period of 1986-1989. Measurements of depth, pressure, salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen are included with the CFC data. Measurements of CFC-11 and CFC-12 in air samples collected along the cruise tracks are also included in the report. Data from this report are also available from the authors in digital format.