The global set of observed profile data were collated from several principal sources and converted to HydroBase station format: World Ocean Database, WOCE Hydrographic Programme (WHPO), CLIVAR Carbon and Hydrographic Data Office (CCHDO), Argo, and those obtained directly from the scientists who collected the data. The profiles include original (not standard depth) observations of pressure, temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, and tracers.

Observed Profile Data

The profile data are stored geographically by 10-degree World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Squares and stored in files named ms10.extent, where ms10 is the 4-digit WMO square designation and extent describes the type of data (e.g. .ctd,.btl,.flt). A collection of WOCE/CLIVAR cruises is included as separate files for plotting sections.

Gridded Climatology Products

The gridded climatology products are distributed as netCDF files (file extent .nc). They are organized by ocean basin (e.g. a single file covering the Indian Ocean). The file name reflects geographic area, time domain, grid resolution, and module that produced it -- and is intended to be self-describing. File names include some combination of:

• Region: Atlantic, Pacific,Indian,Artic
• Resolution: .1deg, .halfdeg, .quintdeg
• Type: .oi3d, .bin3d, .FG
• Month: .jan, .feb, .mar(etc) or .clim (for annual averages)

Global Topography

ETOPO1 is a 1 arc-minute global relief model of the Earth and ice surface that integrates land topography and ocean bathymetry. A coarser resolution version (0.1 degree) is also included.