Cape Elizabeth

The U.S. Northwest coast is a region of dynamic and intense carbon cycling and may be particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification due to a combination of anthropogenic and natural processes. Along the U.S. West Coast, winds blow from north to south during spring and summer months, displacing surface water offshore. Deeper water rich in CO₂ and nutrients and depleted in O₂ upwells to the surface nearshore to replace the displaced surface water. This upwelling results in very high frequency variability in many parameters. In an effort to document the temporal patterns and magnitude of this variability, the PMEL carbon group deployed a MAPCO₂^TM system on a NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) mooring off the Washington State coast on June 21, 2006. The  NDBC mooring 46041 is located 45 nautical miles Northwest of Aberdeen, Washington. It is located near the edge of the continental shelf in 125 m of water, so it is well situated to document the upwelling events in the spring and summer.

Finalized Data availability: National Centers for Environmental Information  NCEI.

Plots of surface water and atmospheric CO₂ (click+drag to zoom):