Summary: | These data provide results from scientific research cruises conduced in the Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet. It adds to the routine sampling of Gulf Watch Alaska program with dissolved inorganic carbon samples from several sampling sites and along the transects under study by partners at The Prince William Sound Science Center and Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The discrete samples were processed at the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute's Ocean Acidification Research Laboratory in Seward Alaska, a division of Chugach Regional Resources Commission. Samples were taken Spring through Fall in Prince William Sound and year round in Kachemak Bay. Samples were acquired via CTD Niskin arrays deployed at different depths. The samples were assessed for salinity, alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbon profiles and pH. Sample analysis was made using the Burke-Ω-Lator (Dakunalytics, LLC). Depth and water temperature were also measured during sampling and used to compute the parameters above. The data resides in 3 coma separated files exported from a Microsoft excel workbook broken down by site and year. Increasing global emissions of CO2 being absorbed from the atmosphere into the ocean will increase the oceans acidity (decreasing pH) thereby decreasing the saturation state of carbonate minerals that are crucial for shell-forming animals.
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