MASCS 1.0: synchronous atmospheric and oceanic data from a cross-shaped moored array in the northern South China Sea during 2014–2015

Abstract

This work presents a cross-shaped moored array dataset (MASCS 1.0) comprising five buoys and four moorings with synchronous atmospheric and oceanic data in the northern South China Sea during 2014–2015. The atmospheric data are observed by two meteorological instruments at the buoys. The oceanic data consist of sea surface waves measured using a wave recorder, temperature, and salinity from the surface to a depth of 400 m and at 10 and 50 m above the ocean bottom using conductivity, temperature, and depth recorders. They also include currents from the surface to a depth of 850 m measured using acoustic Doppler current profilers and measured at 10, 50, and 100 m above the floor using current meters. Additional measurements were taken for sea surface radiation, air visibility, chlorophyll, turbidity, and chromophoric dissolved organic matter at buoy 3 located at the center of the moored array. The data reveal air–sea interactions and oceanic processes in the upper and bottom ocean, especially the transition of the air–sea interface and ocean conditions from summer to winter monsoon and the effects of six tropical cyclones on the moored array. Multiscale processes were also recorded, such as air–sea fluxes, tides, internal waves, and low-frequency flows. The data are valuable and have many potential applications, including analyzing the phenomena and mechanisms of air–sea interactions and ocean dynamics and validating and improving numerical model simulations, data reanalysis, and assimilations. All the data described here are made publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14039870 (Zhang et al., 2024a).