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Measurement · Productivity & Pigments · %

Light intensity of incubation tubes

P06 units UPCT %key light_pct series light_pct
19,767
values
0
flagged
1,902
sampling events
1984–2020
years
1
dataset
0–211 m
depth
Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
seasons
What
How
counted ashore

Neutral-density screens on the on-deck incubators

Bottle sampling methods on calcofi.org ↗

CalCOFI holds 19,767 values of it from 1,902 sampling events in one dataset, 1984–2020, from the surface to 211 m. At 10–50 m it has fallen 10.06 per decade since 1984.R Light is the other half of photosynthesis: how deep it reaches sets the bottom of the layer where anything can grow, and the water’s own plankton is what dims it.C

other ways to say why · 4
  • authored Each incubation tube is screened to a share of full sun, so the set of them reads the growth the water would manage at a set of depths. needs a citation before it can be the pick
  • authored Surface light and light at depth are measured together so a cast can be read as a fraction of that day’s sun rather than an absolute. needs a citation before it can be the pick
  • Wikipedia Photic zone source
  • Wikipedia Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) designates the spectral range of solar radiation from 400 to 700 nanometers that photosynthetic organisms are able to use in the process of photosynthesis. This spectral region corresponds more or less with the range of light visible to the human eye. Photosynthetically active radiation · CC BY-SA 4.0 · rev. 1372897979

The measurement

Measured in
i

One row per series, one cell per year, darker with more values — the same strip the front door draws per dataset and a species page draws per taxon. Each row is one dataset's own measurement_type; the label is written once, in the title above.

  • Hydrographic Bottle 19,767 values · 1,902 sampling events · 1984–2020 · 0–211 m · 111 grid cells · 128 cruises
    series light_pct · source column light_p no flag at this grain no P01 concept

How it is measured

Hydrographic Bottle · counted ashore
Neutral-density screens on the on-deck incubators

The incubation tubes' light level is set to a percentage of surface irradiance, chosen from the Secchi-depth estimate of the 1% light level. (calcofi.org Bottle sampling methods)

no flag at this grain
Bottle sampling methods on calcofi.org ↗

Why it matters

The familiar scale
i

Bars are each series' 5th–95th percentile, the line its minimum to maximum, the ring its median; the marks are metadata/measurement_scale.csv's, each hovering to its own source.

The record’s own history
i

Deeper than the climatology reaches: 4 values at 200–500 m have no normal to depart from, because the release’s climatology stops at its deepest built bin. Carrying it to the bottom is one argument of build_climatology() and puts these bands on the page too.

The record

Ways in
i

Read from measurements.json of release v2026.10.14, written at release by calcofi4db::build_measurements_catalog() beside taxa.json. The catalog's index is /measurements/; the JSON-LD on this page is a schema.org/DefinedTerm in the NERC P01 term set with a PropertyValue per series.

ExplorerExplorer · a depth section vs normaldb-query
ERDDAP · Hydrographic BottleCalCOFI's own server, the Hydrographic Bottle table constrained to this series
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/calcofi_bottle.html?&measurement_type=%22light_pct%22

By depth
i

Values per depth band at the release grain, one thin bar per series. The bands are the record's own (0-10 … 2000+ m).

By month
i

Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in the months the ships sail.

Range & quality

bounds0 … 100 %observed0 … 99.9 %flagged0baselineclimatology ✓
details
bounds
The registry declares 0 … 100 % for light_pct; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()).
observed
Hydrographic Bottle light_pct 0 · median 1.4 · 99.9 % (5th–95th percentile 0.007–95)
flags
Hydrographic Bottle light_pct carries no quality code at the release grain; qual_ok keeps all 19,767.
baseline
A monthly climatology exists for this measurement (the release's climatology table: 1993–2013, dataset × station × the cruise's month × 10 m bin), so the Explorer can draw anomalies against it rather than values.

Cite

Cite the release; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page — Hydrographic Bottle. The Explorer's Share → Cite writes it for the view you make.