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World Ocean Circulation Experiment Global Data Resource |
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The oceans are a key element in the climate system because they transport heat and fresh water and exchange these with the atmosphere. The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) was a part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) which used resources from nearly 30 countries to make unprecedented in-situ and satellite observations of the global ocean between 1990 and 1998 and to observe poorly-understood but important physical processes. The Scientific Steering Group (SSG) of WOCE oversaw the scientific development and the International Project Office (IPO) the implementation of the Experiment. See the Design and Implementation of WOCE and the WOCE Data System for further details. The resulting diverse WOCE data sets contained on these disks will serve as a unique resource for climate researchers and marine scientists for decades to come.
Standardization of file format and structure using netCDF and a COARDS/WOCE convention for the variables is a significant step in the integration of the WOCE dataset as is the availability of an inventory and a search tool which can locate files according to chosen parameter ranges. The table summarises the data content of the WOCE Global Data Resource Version 3.0 as published on DVD. You may order copies of the DVD WOCE Global Dataset Version 3.0 from the US National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). The DVDs will also be available on-line at NODC http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/woce_v3/ . Updates and Amendments to the contents of the WOCE Global Data Resource will be posted on-line. The present widely varying granularity (resolution) of the inventories of each DAC reflects the traditional methods of presentation of each data set. An optimum inventory for space, time, parameter searches across the whole WOCE resource will possibly look rather different. Each WOCE Data Assemby Centre (DAC) adopted and has fully described the quality control procedures appropriate to their specific observations.The satellite datasets were assembled by JPL/USA and CNES/France. A brief summary of the quality control procedures at he DACs follows: Hydrography
Current Meters
XBTs
(Upper Ocean Thermal Data) Sea level
Floats
Drifters
Shipboard
ADCP Surface Meteorology
Profiling
Floats Sea Surface
Salinity
The data of most WOCE data streams have been compiled in integrated, global or basin-wide datasets for easy access and analysis with the Ocean Data View (ODV) visualization software. This "Electronic Atlas of WOCE Data" (eWOCE) is available online. |