Public–Private Partnerships to Advance Regional Ocean-Observing Capabilities: A Saildrone and NOAA-PMEL Case Study and Future Considerations to Expand to Global Scale Observing

In an intensifying effort to track ocean change and distinguish between natural and anthropogenic drivers, sustained ocean time series measurements are becoming increasingly important. Advancements in the ocean carbon observation network over the last decade, such as the development and deployment of Moored Autonomous p CO 2 (MAPCO 2 ) systems, have dramatically improved our ability to characterize ocean climate, sea–air gas exchange, and biogeochemical processes. The MAPCO 2 system provides high-resolution data that can measure interannual, seasonal, and sub-seasonal dynamics and constrain the impact of short-term biogeochemical variability on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) flux. Overall uncertainty of the MAPCO 2 using in situ calibrations with certified gas standards and post-deployment standard operating procedures is 2 ( p CO 2 ) and p CO 2 . The MAPCO 2 maintains this level of uncertainty for over 400 days of autonomous operation. MAPCO 2 measurements are consistent with shipboard seawater p CO 2 measurements and GLOBALVIEW-CO2 boundary layer atmospheric values. Here we provide an open-ocean MAPCO 2 data set including over 100 000 individual atmospheric and seawater p CO 2 measurements on 14 surface buoys from 2004 through 2011 and a description of the methods and data quality control involved. The climate-quality data provided by the MAPCO 2 have allowed for the establishment of open-ocean observatories to track surface ocean p CO 2 changes around the globe. Data are available at doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.TSM_NDP092 and http://cdiac.ornl.gov/oceans/Moorings/ndp092 .