NODC (Levitus) World Ocean Atlas 1998

Go To: Temporal Coverage | Spatial Coverage | Levels | Update Schedule | Download/Plot Data | Restrictions | Details | Caveats | File Naming | Citation | References | Original Source | Contact

One-Line Description:

  • NODC (Levitus) World Ocean Atlas Data 1998

Temporal Coverage:

  • Long term annual means, derived from data for years 1900 - 1997.
  • Long term seasonal means, derived from data for years 1900 - 1997.
  • Long term monthly means, derived from data for years 1900 - 1997.

Spatial Coverage:

  • 1.0 degree latitude x 1.0 degree longitude global grid (180x360).
  • 89.5N - 89.5S 0.5E - 359.5E.
  • 5.0 degree latitude x 5.0 degree longitude global grid (36x72).
  • 87.5N - 87.5S, 2.5E - 357.5E.

Levels:

  • Depth in meters at 0.0, 10.0, 20.0, 30.0, 50.0, 75.0, 100.0, 125.0, 150.0, 200.0, 250.0, 300.0, 400.0, 500.0, 600.0, 700.0, 800.0, 900.0, 1000.0, 1100.0, 1200.0, 1300.0, 1400.0, 1500.0, 1750.0, 2000.0, 2500.0, 3000.0, 3500.0, 4000.0, 4500.0, 5000.0, 5500.0.
  • Depth in meters at 0.0, 10.0, 20.0, 30.0, 50.0, 75.0, 100.0, 125.0, 150.0, 200.0, 250.0, 300.0, 400.0, 500.0, 600.0, 700.0, 800.0, 900.0, 1000.0, 1100.0, 1200.0, 1300.0, 1400.0, 1500.0.

Update Schedule:

  • Static

Download/Plot Data:

Variable Statistic Level Download File Create Plot/Subset
Ocean Temperature 1 degree Long Term Mean Multiple plot
Ocean Salinity 1 degree Long Term Mean Multiple plot
Ocean Temperature 5 degree Long Term Mean Multiple plot
Ocean Salinity 5 degree Long Term Mean Multiple plot
Basin Index Mask Multiple basin.nc
Maximum Land/Sea Depth Index Mask   landseadepth.nc

Usage Restrictions:

  • None

Detailed Description:

  • The atlas contains annual, seasonal, and monthly long term means for temperature and salinity at multiple depths. Several statistics, including nobs are included in separate files, along with two "mask" files.

Caveats:

  • None

Related File Naming & Structure Information:

File Names:

  • var/time/var2.stat res.nc   (In directory: /Datasets/nodc.woa98/)
    where var is one of:
    temperat - ocean temperature
    salinity - ocean salinity
    time is one of:
    annual
    monthly
    seasonal
    var2 is one of:
    otemp - ocean temperature
    salt - ocean salinity
    stat is one of:
    anal - analyzed mean
    dd - data distribution (basically number of observations)
    gp - grid point (number of cells influencing this cell's value)
    ma - anomaly; annual mean subtracted
    oa - analyzed annual mean subtracted from raw mean
    raw - raw (AKA unanalyzed) mean
    sd - standard deviation
    se - standard error
    and res is either:
    1deg - 1 degree grid
    5deg - 5 degree grid

Dataset Format and Size:

  • PSD standard NetCDF 344 Kbyte file for each annual 5 degree file.
  • PSD standard NetCDF 1 Mbyte file for each seasonal 5 degree file.
  • PSD standard NetCDF 3 Mbyte file for each monthly 5 degree file.
  • PSD standard NetCDF 9 Mbyte file for each annual 1 degree file (each grid point file half the size).
  • PSD standard NetCDF 34 Mbyte file for each seasonal 1 degree file (each grid point file half the size).
  • PSD standard NetCDF 75 Mbyte file for each monthly 1 degree file (each grid point file half the size).

Missing Data:

  • Missing data is flagged with a value of 32767s.
  • Missing data is flagged with a value of -9.96921e+36f.
  • A mask variable can be used to determine which points are ocean points and the number of valid levels.

Citation:

  • Please note: If you acquire NODC_WOA98 data products from PSD, we ask that you acknowledge us in your use of the data. This may be done by including text such as NODC_WOA98 data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ in any documents or publications using these data. We would also appreciate receiving a copy of the relevant publications. This will help PSD to justify keeping the NODC_WOA98 data set freely available online in the future. Thank you!

References:

Original Source:

  • National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA, Washington, D.C.

Contact:

  • Physical Sciences Division: Data Management
    NOAA/ESRL/PSD
    325 Broadway
    Boulder, CO 80305-3328
    esrl.psd.data@noaa.gov