Temperature and salinity vertical profiles (CTD) data in the Ría de Vigo and adjacent shelf collected in the Radiales program, 1987–2020

The Galician rías and their adjacent continental shelf form part of the northern boundary of the Canary Current upwelling system (CanCUS), one of the world's major eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems (EBUEs). During summer, prevailing northerly winds export surface water offshore, allowing deeper, cooler, nutrient-rich water to rise, creating a fertilizing effect on coastal waters that support valuable fisheries and aquaculture economy. This data article describes a time series of hydrographic data collected on a biweekly to monthly frequency from August 1987 to September 2020 in the interior of the Ría de Vigo (one of the aforementioned Galician rías) and its adjacent shelf. This monitoring effort results in the longest sampling series in the area up to 2020, providing high value for understanding the connectivity processes between the coastal embayment and the adjacent shelf, changes in ocean climate, as well as ecosystem structure and functioning. Data were collected with vertical pressure, temperature and conductivity profilers, varying the profiler instrument over time (MARK III, SBE 9 Plus, SBE 19, SBE 25). Data were collected at four stations with depths ranging from 29 m to 148 m, although only two of these stations cover the full temporal range of the monitoring program. Due to the temporal extent of the sampling, the data have been processed with different techniques and by different technicians throughout the duration of the monitoring program. To ensure data consistency and increase data reusability, all data have been now reprocessed under the same criteria, quality-controlled, and unified in this dataset. The dataset in both MedAtlas SeaDataNet ASCII and CF-compliant netcdf formats are available via SEANOE repository at: https://www.seanoe.org/data/00828/94008/