Physical, optical, and chemical profile data from CTD casts collected from August 2005 to July 2012 from platforms Sever, Akademik Lavrentiev, and Professor Khromov in the Bering and Chukchi Seas in support of the Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) (NCEI Accession 0125595)

As part of the joint US-Russian RUSALCA (Russian US Long-term Census of the Arctic Ocean) Program, a team of US and Russian scientists undertook oceanographic cruises in summers of 2004-2012 on board the Russian Research Vessel Professor Khromov, the Russian vessel Sever, or the Academik M. A. Lavrentiev. The primary objective of these cruises was mooring work in the Bering Strait region. Related high resolution CTD sections with nutrient sampling and some benthic grab work were performed as weather and time allowed, in order to provide context to the mooring data and to measure the hydrography of the southern Chukchi Sea.

This dataset contains processed CTD data (temperature, conductivity, pressure, salinity, sigma-t) from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Bad weather in 2008 did not allow CTD casts to be taken during the cruise aboard the Academik M. A. Lavrentiev. Data from 2004 and 2009 were processed separately, though might be included in this data set at a later date.

Nutrient data are not included here, though the voltages reported by auxiliary sensors (PAR, fluorescence, oxygen, altimeter) are included when available. Refer to the .readme files for listings of exactly what data are available for each cruise.

Information on each year's cruise and data processing idiosyncrasies is included in a .readme file included with the year's .ascii data file. Information on station position and time are included in the .hdr file. More information on cruises can be found in the cruise reports posted at http://psc.apl.washington.edu/HLD/Bstrait/Data/BeringStraitCruiseDataArchive.html.