Surface photosynthetically active radiation
- 11,201
- values
- 0
- flagged
- 11,201
- sampling events
- 2016–2022
- years
- 1
- dataset
- surface
- depth
- Jul · Aug · Oct · Nov
- seasons
CalCOFI holds 11,201 values of it from 11,201 sampling events in one dataset, 2016–2022, at the surface.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 · 3
- 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.
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.
-
series
par_surf· source columnpar_surfno bound declared no flag at this grain no P01 concept
How it is measured
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.
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
i
The release builds no climatology for this measurement, so there is no normal to draw a departure from.
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.
Explorerdb-queryi
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.
SELECT * FROM read_json('…/v2026.10.14/catalog.json')
-- objects[] WHERE table = 'obs_env'
-- AND partition_value = 'par_surf'library(calcofi4r)
con <- cc_get_db() # the promoted release
tbl(con, "obs_env") |> filter(measurement_type %in% c("par_surf"))import calcofi4py as cc
con = cc.cc_get_db()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM obs_env WHERE measurement_type IN ('par_surf')").df()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).
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.
i
Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in the months the ships sail.
Range & quality
details
- bounds
- No physical bound is declared for this series in metadata/measurement_type.csv, so nothing is enforced at the ingest and the range below is simply what the release carries.
- observed
- Underway Meteorological (METS)
par_surf-22.94 · median 11.64 · 3479 (5th–95th percentile 2.41–2278) - flags
- Underway Meteorological (METS)
par_surfcarries no quality code at the release grain; qual_ok keeps all 11,201. - baseline
- No climatology row is built for this measurement, so the Explorer draws values, not anomalies.
Cite
Cite the release; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page — Underway Meteorological (METS). The Explorer's Share → Cite writes it for the view you make.