Oceanographic, meteorological and physical data collected from Saildrone 126 and Saildrone 128 in the Bering Sea from 2015-04-26 to 2016-09-03 (NCEI Accession 0187987)

This dataset contains near-surface measurements of oceanographic, meteorological and physical data collected in situ from two autonomous surface vehicles Saildrone 126 and 128 in the Bering Sea in 2015 and 2016. The 2015 experiment took place between 2015-04-26 and 2015-07-28 and the 2016 experiment took place between 2016-05-23 and 2016-09-03. Saildrone is an unmanned autonomous sailboat powered by wind and solar energy. Under the umbrella of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Saildrone LLC, these vehicles were deployed on experimental missions in 2015 and 2016 to assess the viability of this observing platform. The major field program in FY15 and 16 was the test deployment of two saildrones which followed ice retreat in the Bering Sea, sailing from Dutch Harbor to Nome. Both saildrones had a variety of sensors and instruments consisting of thermosalinograph, ADCP, echo sounder, oxygen optode, fluorometer, SST IR pyrometer, anemometer, meteorological probe, digital barometer, and magnetometer. The oceanographic measurements include skin temperature, salinity, water temperature, water skin temperature, ocean currents, chlorophyll-a, CDOM concentration, red backscatter, fish biomass and dissolved oxygen. The atmospheric measurements consist of wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity and air pressure. The physical measurements include tide direction and speed, magnetic field and water depth. All the data are in netCDF-CF (underway) format. These data are experimental and have not been quality controlled. There are known issues (offsets) in the sea surface salinity data and there might be unknown issues in other data variables. Users need to do quality control when using these data. These data are made available at the users own risk. The dataset will be updated as data are quality controlled and updated data become available.