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SPURS-2 Drifter data for the E. Tropical Pacific field campaign

Published by NASA/JPL/PODAAC;SPURS Project | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Catalog Last Checked: June 25, 2026 at 02:01 PM | Dataset Last Updated: June 23, 2026
The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is a NASA-funded oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project is comprised of two field campaigns and a series of cruises in regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans exhibiting salinity extremes. SPURS employs a suite of state-of-the-art in-situ sampling technologies that, combined with remotely sensed salinity fields from the Aquarius/SAC-D, SMAP and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-2 campaign involved two month-long cruises by the R/V Revelle in August 2016 and October 2017 combined with complementary sampling on a more continuous basis over this period by the schooner Lady Amber. Focused around a central mooring located near 10N,125W, the objective of SPURS-2 was to study the dynamics of the rainfall-dominated surface ocean at the western edge of the eastern Pacific fresh pool subject to high seasonal variability and strong zonal flows associated with the North Equatorial Current and Countercurrent. A drifter is a passive Lagrangian sensor platform consisting of a surface buoy and tethered subsurface drogue. Drifter buoys contain GPS/ARGOS and satellite data transmitters, with sensors measuring temperature and other properties. For SPURS-2, a range of drifters were deployed during both Revelle SPURS-2 cruises. These included: standard Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifters with salinity sensors added (SVP/S), Surface Contact Salinity drifters, CODE, SADOS, AOML and CARTHE-SUPRACT drifters. For each series, drifter data have been aggregrated within single netCDF data files with their corresponding drifter-IDs and associated near-surface salinity, temperature georeferenced (GPS and ARGOS) trajectory series data.

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Complete Metadata
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description The SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) project is a NASA-funded oceanographic process study and associated field program that aim to elucidate key mechanisms responsible for near-surface salinity variations in the oceans. The project is comprised of two field campaigns and a series of cruises in regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans exhibiting salinity extremes. SPURS employs a suite of state-of-the-art in-situ sampling technologies that, combined with remotely sensed salinity fields from the Aquarius/SAC-D, SMAP and SMOS satellites, provide a detailed characterization of salinity structure over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. The SPURS-2 campaign involved two month-long cruises by the R/V Revelle in August 2016 and October 2017 combined with complementary sampling on a more continuous basis over this period by the schooner Lady Amber. Focused around a central mooring located near 10N,125W, the objective of SPURS-2 was to study the dynamics of the rainfall-dominated surface ocean at the western edge of the eastern Pacific fresh pool subject to high seasonal variability and strong zonal flows associated with the North Equatorial Current and Countercurrent. A drifter is a passive Lagrangian sensor platform consisting of a surface buoy and tethered subsurface drogue. Drifter buoys contain GPS/ARGOS and satellite data transmitters, with sensors measuring temperature and other properties. For SPURS-2, a range of drifters were deployed during both Revelle SPURS-2 cruises. These included: standard Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifters with salinity sensors added (SVP/S), Surface Contact Salinity drifters, CODE, SADOS, AOML and CARTHE-SUPRACT drifters. For each series, drifter data have been aggregrated within single netCDF data files with their corresponding drifter-IDs and associated near-surface salinity, temperature georeferenced (GPS and ARGOS) trajectory series data.
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identifier 10.5067/SPUR2-DRIFT
keyword 
[
  "earth-science-ocean-temperature-oceans-water-temperature",
  "earth-science-salinity-density-oceans-salinity"
]
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-06-23
programCode 
[
  "026:000"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "NASA/JPL/PODAAC;SPURS Project",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial 
"["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -179.999, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -10.074, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -124.78, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 32.283}]]"
temporal 2016-06-20/2019-03-14
theme 
[
  "Earth Science"
]
title SPURS-2 Drifter data for the E. Tropical Pacific field campaign

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