CalCOFI.io CalCOFI.io open data ecosystem

Bottle salinity

PSUkey salinity_btlNERC P01 PSLTZZ01P06 units PSUXseries salinity_btl

CalCOFI holds 154,909 values of it from 9,289 sampling events in one dataset, 1993–2026, from the surface to 3,510 m. At 10–50 m it has risen 0.02 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

154,909
values
0
flagged
1993–2026
years
1
dataset
1–3,510 m
depth
every month
months
33.79 g of salt in a kilogram of CalCOFI seawater, at the record’s median salinityBr⁻ 0.2 % · SO₄²⁻ 7.7 % · HCO₃⁻ 0.3 % · Cl⁻ 55.0 % · Mg²⁺ 3.7 % · Na⁺ 30.7 % · K⁺ 1.1 % · Ca²⁺ 1.2 %The quantity of dissolved ions (predominantly salt in seawater) expressed on a scale (PSS-78) based on the conductivity ratio of a seawater sample to a standard KCl solution.

Measured in 1 dataset
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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.

  • 154,909 values · 9,289 sampling events · 1993–2026 · 1–3,510 m · 109 grid cells · 136 cruises
    series salinity_btl · source column salt_b no flag at this grain

Explorera depth section vs normaldb-queryERDDAPThis page as JSON R · Python · Parquet

Every way in 8 ways · ERDDAP · Parquet · R · Python · JSON

Read from measurements.json of release v2026.10.21, 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 · CTD Cast FilesCalCOFI's own server, the CTD Cast Files table constrained to this series
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/calcofi_ctd-cast.html?&measurement_type=%22salinity_btl%22
The structure 2 structures
O4S2− sulfate CHEBI:16189 · 96.063 g/mol · component
CHO3− hydrogencarbonate CHEBI:17544 · 61.016 g/mol · component

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 Guildline Portasal 8410A salinometer, two per cruise
rosette bottle
CTD Cast Files · rosette bottle
Guildline Portasal 8410A salinometer, two per cruise

About 225 mL drawn from every Niskin into a numbered KIMAX bottle after three rinses; a Guildline Portasal 8410A salinometer compares the sample's conductivity with a reference seawater standard and salinity is computed from the ratio. (calcofi.org Bottle sampling methods)

no flag at this grainaccuracy +/-0.003 PSU, precision 0.0003 PSU (Guildline specification)
Bottle sampling methods on calcofi.org ↗
Why it matters 4 ways to say it · EOV Subsurface salinity

Essential Ocean Variable
Subsurface salinity

the GOOS specification sheet for this Essential Ocean Variable lists it

GOOS specification sheet ↗

other ways to say why · 3
  • authored 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 record’s own history 6 depth bands against the 1993–2013 normal

Each year against the normal
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Deeper than the climatology reaches: 78 values at 1000–2000 m, 24 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.

Units and range PSU · 0 … 45 declared · 0 flagged

PSU · P06 units PSUX

bounds0 … 45 PSUobserved28.43 … 34.74 PSUflagged0baselineclimatology ✓
details
bounds
The registry declares 0 … 45 PSU for salinity_btl; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()).
observed
CTD Cast Files salinity_btl 28.43 · median 33.63 · 34.74 PSU (5th–95th percentile 33.06–34.26)
flags
CTD Cast Files salinity_btl carries no quality code at the release grain; qual_ok keeps all 154,909.
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.

The familiar scale
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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.

By depth · by month 1–3,510 m · every month

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

Cite the release, v2026.10.21

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.