NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81 WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 2018 Volume 1
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NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81 WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 2018 Volume 1: Temperature Silver Spring, MD July 2019 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service National Centers for Environmental Information NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Additional copies of this publication, as well as information about NCEI data holdings and services, are available upon request directly from NCEI. NOAA/NESDIS National Centers for Environmental Information SSMC3, 4th floor 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 Telephone: (301) 713-3277 E-mail: [email protected] WEB: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ For updates on the data, documentation, and additional information about the WOA18 please refer to: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/indprod.html This document should be cited as: Locarnini, R.A., A.V. Mishonov, O.K. Baranova, T.P. Boyer, M.M. Zweng, H.E. Garcia, J.R. Reagan, D. Seidov, K.W. Weathers, C.R. Paver, and I.V. Smolyar (2019). World Ocean Atlas 2018, Volume 1: Temperature. A. Mishonov, Technical Editor. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81, 52pp. This document is available on line at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/indprod.html . NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81 WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 2018 Volume 1: Temperature Ricardo A. Locarnini, Alexey V. Mishonov, Olga K. Baranova, Timothy P. Boyer, Melissa M. Zweng, Hernan E. Garcia, James R. Reagan, Dan Seidov, Katharine W. Weathers, Christopher R. Paver, Igor V. Smolyar Technical Editor: Alexey Mishonov Ocean Climate Laboratory National Centers for Environmental Information Silver Spring, Maryland July 2019 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Wilbur L. Ross, Secretary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Neil Jacobs, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observations and Prediction Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Stephen Volz, Assistant Administrator To Sydney (Syd) Levitus Syd exemplifies the craft of careful, systematic inquiry of the large- scale distributions and low-frequency variability from seasonal-to-decadal time scales of ocean properties. He was one of the first to recognize the importance and benefits of creating objectively analyzed climatological fields of measured ocean variables including temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, and derived fields such as mixed layer depth. Upon publishing Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean in 1982, he distributed this work without restriction, an act not common at the time. This seminal atlas moved the oceanographic diagnostic research from using hand-drawn maps to using objectively analyzed fields of ocean variables. With his NODC Ocean Climate Laboratory (OCL) colleagues, and unprecedented cooperation from the U.S. and international ocean scientific and data management communities, he created the World Ocean Database (WOD); the world’s largest collection of ocean profile data that are available internationally without restriction. The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) series represents the gridded objective analyses of the WOD and these fields have also been made available without restriction. The WOD and WOA series are used so frequently that they have become known generically as the “Levitus Climatology”. These databases and products enable systematic studies of ocean variability in its climatological context that were not previously possible. His foresight in creating WOD and WOA has been demonstrated by their widespread use over the years. Syd has made major contributions to the scientific and ocean data management communities. He has also increased public understanding of the role of the oceans in climate. He retired in 2013 after 39 years of distinguished civil service. He distilled the notion of the synergy between rigorous data management and science; there are no shortcuts. All of us at the Ocean Climate Laboratory would like to dedicate this atlas to Syd, his legacy, vision, and mentorship. The OCL team members Table of Contents Table of Contents ..........................................................................................................................................................i List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................................. ii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................... ii List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .........................................................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. DATA SOURCES AND DATA DISTRIBUTION ................................................................................................ 2 2.1. Data sources ................................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2. Data quality control ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2.1. Duplicate elimination ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2.2. Range and gradient checks ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.2.3. Statistical checks ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.2.4. Static stability check ................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.5. Subjective flagging of data ......................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.6. Representativeness of the data ................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.7. XBT/MBT temperature bias and XCTD drop rate error corrections ......................................................... 7 2.2.8. Temperature data from Pinniped mounted CTD sensors ............................................................................................. 8 3. DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURES ................................................................................................................. 9 3.1. Vertical interpolation to standard levels ....................................................................................................... 9 3.2. Methods of analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2.1. Overview .................................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2.2. Derivation of Barnes (1964) weight function ........................................................................................... 11 3.2.3. Derivation of Barnes (1964) response function ....................................................................................... 12 3.2.4. Choice of response function ..................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.5. First-guess field determination ................................................................................................................ 13 3.3. Choice of objective analysis procedures ..................................................................................................... 14 3.4. Choice of spatial grid .................................................................................................................................. 15 3.4.1. Increased spatial resolution ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.5. Stabilization of Temperature and Salinity Climatologies............................................................................ 16 4. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................... 17 4.1. Computation of annual and seasonal fields ................................................................................................ 18 4.2. Available statistical fields ........................................................................................................................... 18 4.3. Obtaining WOA18 fields online .................................................................................................................