Ocean Gases Lab
Functions and Databases
Useful MatLab functions:
gas solubilities, carbon system parameters, and seawater vapor pressure
These MatLab functions calculate gas solubility based on Weiss (1971) for helium, Hamme and Emerson (2004) for neon, nitrogen and argon, Garcia and Gordon (1992) for oxygen, Weiss and Kyser (1978) for krypton, and Wood and Caputi (1966) for xenon. There is some indication that the Wood and Caputi Xe solubility curve may be about 2% too high, but this potential offset is not included in the Xesol script. See Hamme and Severinghaus (2007) for a discussion of the offset. The carbon system parameters function calculates the concentrations of the various carbonate species, pH and the fugacity of CO2 given inputs of temperature, salinity, DIC, alkalinity, and pressure. It is not as complete a script as CO2SYS, but it is a bit easier to use and suitable for beginning students wishing to gain some intuition.
The vapor pressure of seawater is based on Wagner and Pruss (2002) and Millero (1974). The gas diffusion coefficient script is based on Jahne et al. (1987) for the noble gases and Ferrell and Himmelblau (1967) for oxygen and nitrogen.
Please e-mail me if you have any difficulty with the functions as I would like to improve them:
Helium solubility
Neon solubility
Nitrogen solubility
Argon solubility
Oxygen solubility
Krypton solubility
Xenon solubility
Carbon system parameters
Vapor pressure of seawater
Diffusion coefficients for various gases in fresh/seawater
Dissolved gas database:
This data is provided free for educational and non-profit research purposes. We ask that you acknowledge the authors and appropriate publications in any work that uses this database. Please also send an e-mail to
, letting me know that you have downloaded the data, so that I can keep you apprised of any further corrections or changes. Both MatLab .mat databases and comma-delimited text files are provided. These two formats contain identical information. Please also e-mail me if you have any difficulty with the databases as I would like to improve them.
Dissolved gas data from time-series locations for 1998-2004
Description of variable names
Hawaii Ocean Time-series cruises 117-127, MatLab format
Hawaii Ocean Time-series cruises 117-127, Comma delimited text format
Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study cruise 154, MatLab format
Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study cruise 154, Comma delimited text format
Kyodo North Pacific Ocean Time-series, MatLab format
Kyodo North Pacific Ocean Time-series, Comma delimited text format
Hawaii Ocean Time-series cruise 162 (Ar, Kr, Xe), MatLab format
Hawaii Ocean Time-series cruise 162 (Ar, Kr, Xe), Comma delimited text format
Dissolved O2/Ar, O2 isotopes, and productivity calculations from SOGasEx experiment (2008)
Hamme et al. (2012), Dissolved O2/Ar and other methods reveal rapid changes in productivity during a Lagrangian experiment in the Southern Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 117, C00F12, doi:10.1029/2011JC007046.
SOGasEx O2/Ar, O2 isotopes, and productivity calculations from discrete samples, MatLab format
SOGasEx O2/Ar, O2 isotopes, and productivity calculations from discrete samples, Comma delimited text format
Metadata for discrete samples including description of variable names
SOGasEx O2/Ar and productivity calculations from underway mass spec sampling, MatLab format
SOGasEx O2/Ar and productivity calculations from underway mass spec sampling, Comma delimited text format
Metadata for underway mass spec measurements including description of variable names
SOGasEx Diurnal-O2 gross oxygen production calculations from underway mass spec sampling, MatLab format
SOGasEx Diurnal-O2 gross oxygen production calculations from underway mass spec sampling, Comma delimited text format
Metadata for diurnal-O2 GOP calculations including description of variable names
Dissolved N2/Ar and Ar data global dataset
Hamme and Emerson (2013), Deep-sea nutrient loss inferred from the marine dissolved N2/Ar ratio, Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, doi:10.1002/grl.50275.
Description of variable names
Global N2/Ar and Ar database 2000-2010, MatLab format
Global N2/Ar and Ar database 2000-2010, Comma delimited text format
Dissolved noble gas and N2/Ar Labrador Sea dataset
Hamme and Emerson (2017), Using noble gas measurements to derive air-sea process information and predict physical gas saturations, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2017GL075123.
Description of variable names
Labrador Sea noble gas and N2/Ar database 2007-2016, MatLab format
Labrador Sea noble gas and N2/Ar database 2007-2016, Comma delimited text format