Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs)

Real-time data from the Global Telecommunications System

This data set includes Expendable bathythermograph data which have been sent, via satellite, from volunteer observing ships (VOS) to receiving stations onshore. From there, the data is placed on the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and is available worldwide. This data is read from the GTS at four hour intervals and made available here without any quality control procedures having been applied. The spatial domain is global and the temporal domain is from ca. 1999 to the present. Go to data access page.

Near Real-time data with QC flags

This data set is a subset of the GTS database and consists of profiles which were collected aboard vessels using the Shipboard Environmental data Acquisition Software (SEAS). Once the profiles are received by AOML, they are subjected to an automated quality control (QC) process prior to insertion on the GTS. The QC tests that are applied to this data are based on the GTSPP QC protocols. Those profiles which pass the tests are inserted on the GTS. All profiles, regardless of pass/fail are available here, along with the quality flags. The data set is global, but is limited to SEAS vessels and extends from 2003 to the present. Go to data access page.

Delayed mode research quality XBTs

AOML serves as the Atlantic ocean data assembly center for upper ocean thermal data. The data is managed as part of the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Project (GTSPP). This data set is subject to both automated quality control procedures and to visual inspection by scientists. The GTSPP project has been in operation since the early 1990s but AOML has been archiving XBT data in the Atlantic Ocean for over thirty years.