1. 1. INTRODUCTION
World Data Center (WDC) for Oceanography, Silver Spring is operated by the
U.S. National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), Ocean Climate Laboratory,
and NODC provides support for all required scientific and technical operations.
Data submitted to WDC that are amenable to processing and incorporation into
data files at NODC become part of NODC’s global data base. NODC/WDC data
collections and products are available at: www.nodc.noaa.gov/O5.
2. MISSION
In accordance with principles set forth by the International Council of Scientific
Unions (ICSU), WDC for Oceanography acquires, catalogues, and archives data,
publications, and data inventory forms and makes them available to requesters in
the international scientific community. WDC for Oceanography provides copies of
data it receives to its counterparts, World Data Center for Oceanography
(Obninsk, Russia) and World Data Center for Oceanography (Tianjin, China).
Oceanographic data contributed to WDC automatically become available to
scientific investigators in any country. There are no restrictions or limitations
placed on data exchanged through the WDC System.
3. DATA
In 1993 the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) initiated the
Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue (GODAR) Project.
Implementation of the GODAR project has resulted in a large increase of the
number of temperature and salinity profiles (Figure 1). Of the 4.5 million
temperature profiles increase between 1993 and 2005, approximately 3 million
profiles are due to the GODAR Project.
Figure 1. Growth of the NODC data archives. Of the 4.5 million temperature
profiles increase in 1993 and 2005, approximately 3 million profiles are due to
the GODAR Project.
NODC 1974
1.49
NODC 1991
2.54
WOA94
4.49
WOD98
5.29
WOD05
7.90
WOD01
7.04
0.40
1.28 1.48
2.12
2.64
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006
Year
#ofProfiles(millions)
Temperature Profiles
Salinity Profiles
4. WORLD OCEAN DATABASE 2005
The World Ocean Database 2005 (WOD05) is the largest digital collection of
quality-controlled historical and modern ocean profile data (1772-2005) made
available internationally without restrictions. Data and metadata from multiple
instrument types (Figure 2) and 25 variables including temperature, salinity,
oxygen, nutrients, carbon, and other biochemical tracers are stored in WOD05.
The data are derived from U.S. and international sources and is available on DVD
and on-line at www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOD05/pr_wod05.html. The WOD05
was released in May 2006.
Figure 2. Temporal distribution of data, by instrument, in the WOD05.
7. PRODUCTS AND PUBLICATIONS
A variety of products and publications have been prepared in collaboration with
international partners. They present data analyses of select regions of the world
and provide metadata on historical observations and investigations. Products and
publications are available online at: www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/indprod.html and
www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/indpubhtml.
In addition to joint publications and products, WDC makes available the WDC
Catalogue of Data and Reports. The reports and catalogues are available at:
www.nodc.noaa.gov/General/NODC-dataexch/.
5. WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 2005
The World Ocean Atlas 2005 (WOA05) is a set of gridded objectively analyzed
fields of eight key oceanographic variables: temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen,
apparent oxygen utilization, oxygen saturation, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate.
These fields are available at standard depth levels for annual, seasonal, and
monthly compositing time periods based on quality-controlled WOD05 data.
WOA05 includes gridded fields on both 1° and 5° grids as well as maps that
illustrate the climatological large-scale distribution and statistics of these variables
(Figure 3). WOA05 is available at:
www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOA05/woa05data.html.
6. WORLD OCEAN DATABASE SELECT AND SEARCH
The World Ocean Database Select and Search (WODselect) is an online retrieval
system which allows the user to search and download a subset of WOD data and
associated metadata. WODselect is accessible at
www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/SELECT/dbsearch/dbsearch.html.
Figure 4 shows monthly download statistics since the implementation of
WODselect in April 2003.
Figure 3. Climatological summer (Jul-Sep) maps at 150 m depth: left, temperature [°C];
right salinity [PSS].
Figure 4. Monthly distribution of the total number of ocean stations downloaded
from WODselect. Inset shows download statistics for year 2007 (Jan thru early
Jun).
World Data Center for Oceanography
Silver Spring - USA
Daphne Johnson and Sydney Levitus
NOAA1/NESDIS2/National Oceanographic Data Center
www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/
WOD01
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Apr-03 Apr-04 Apr-05 Apr-06 Apr-07
Month-Year
WOD05
#Stationsdownloaded(106)
WODselect downloads in 2007 (Jan – early
Jun)
Total # of Queries: 24,193
# of Extractions: 4,330
# of Stations Extracted: 637.9 million
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
World Data Center for Oceanography, Silver Spring thanks all scientists and
institutions worldwide who have generously submitted oceanographic data to
regional, national, and world data centers. Their efforts have made our mission
possible.
Contacts: Sydney.Levitus@noaa.gov; Daphne.Johnson@noaa.gov
NODC Customer Service: NODC.Services@noaa.gov
#ofTemperatureprofiles(104)
0
5
10
15
20
25
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
XBT CTD MBT OSD Other*
*Other:
Undulating Oceanographic Recorder
Profiling Float
Moored Buoy
Drifting Buoy
Glider
Autonomous Pinniped Bathythermograph
0
5
10
15
20
25
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
XBT CTD MBT OSD Other*
*Other:
Undulating Oceanographic Recorder
Profiling Float
Moored Buoy
Drifting Buoy
Glider
Autonomous Pinniped Bathythermograph
#ofTemperatureprofiles(104)
*Other:
Undulating Oceanographic Recorder
Profiling Float
Moored Buoy
Drifting Buoy
Glider
Autonomous Pinniped Bathythermograph
1National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services
IUGG-eGY July 2007