Salinity sensor 1 (uncorrected)
- 689,007
- values
- 510
- flagged
i
510 of these 689,007 values (under 0.1 %) are flagged by their provider as questionable or bad. The Explorer, the climatology and its anomalies leave them out; do the same when you read the data yourself (cc_qual_ok_sql()in calcofi4r,qual_ok_sql()in calcofi4py). - 9,674
- sampling events
- 1993–2026
- years
- 1
- dataset
- 1–3,630 m
- depth
- Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
- seasons
34.14 g of salt in a kilogram of CalCOFI seawater, at the record’s median salinity
Br⁻ 0.2 % · SO₄²⁻ 7.7 % · HCO₃⁻ 0.3 % · Cl⁻ 55.0 % · Mg²⁺ 3.7 % · Na⁺ 30.7 % · K⁺ 1.1 % · Ca²⁺ 1.2 %
This is the preferred term for this definition. Alternative term PSALST02 is included to cover cases where there are two sensors of the same type contributing to the data set and referential integrity considerations prevent a usage of a single code.
EOV Subsurface salinity
CalCOFI holds 689,007 values of it from 9,674 sampling events in one dataset, 1993–2026, from the surface to 3,630 m. At 200–500 m it has risen 0.01 per decade since 1993.R Salinity tags the water masses: the California Current carries fresher Subarctic water south and the Undercurrent carries saltier water from the south; with temperature it sets density.C
other ways to say why · 3
- Salinity and temperature together set seawater’s density, which drives the currents and decides how deep winter mixing reaches. needs a citation before it can be the pick
- Wikipedia Water mass source
- Wikipedia Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water. It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg. Salinity · CC BY-SA 4.0 · rev. 1368851206
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
salinity_1· source columnsalt1· flag columnsalt1q510 flagged
The structure
ChEBI: “A sulfur oxoanion obtained by deprotonation of both OH groups of sulfuric acid.” · RDKit 2026.03.6 from the ChEBI molfile, in the page’s ink · CC BY 4.0. ChEBI’s roles are never shown.
How it is measured
A Sea-Bird CTD's dual conductivity cells profile in situ; the pumped flow keeps water moving past the sensors regardless of ship roll, and the bottle salts confirm each Niskin closed at its target depth and help select the better-performing sensor for the published series. (calcofi.org Bottle sampling methods)
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.
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: 3,237 values at 2000+ 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.
i
Deeper than the climatology reaches: 3,237 values at 2000+ 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 GOOS specification sheet for this Essential Ocean Variable lists it
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-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 = 'salinity_1'library(calcofi4r)
con <- cc_get_db() # the promoted release
tbl(con, "obs_env") |> filter(measurement_type %in% c("salinity_1"))import calcofi4py as cc
con = cc.cc_get_db()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM obs_env WHERE measurement_type IN ('salinity_1')").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
- The registry declares
0 … 45 PSUforsalinity_1; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()). - observed
- CTD Cast Files
salinity_15.343 · median 33.98 · 44.14 PSU (5th–95th percentile 33.1–34.3) - flags
- CTD Cast Files
salinity_1salt1qon 510 of 689,007 rows:8158 ·9352; qual_ok keeps 688,497. The codes are this dataset's own vocabulary, uninterpreted. - 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.
Related measurements i
The same quantity from another platform or another kind of sample, each its own page and
never merged into this one: a dataset's own bottle samples would count that dataset twice, an underway intake
is not a cast, and a replicate is not a mean. The reason is the record's
(related[].why).
i
The same quantity from another platform or another kind of sample, each its own page and never merged into this one: a dataset's own bottle samples would count that dataset twice, an underway intake is not a cast, and a replicate is not a mean. The reason is the record's (related[].why).
- Salinity sensor 1 cruise-corrected salinity_1_corr · CTD Cast Files · 1993–2026 · 671,758 values · P01 PSALST01 the other sensor of the pair, logged alongside
Cite
Cite the release; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page — CTD Cast Files. The Explorer's Share → Cite writes it for the view you make.