NOAA Logo National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC)

NOAA Satellite and Information Service

Due to the Federal Government shutdown, NOAA.gov and most associated web sites are unavailable. This site will remain accessible during the federal government shutdown. However, information on the site may not be up to date and we may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

You are here: Home › Access Data › Global Argo Data Repository › Argo KMZ Files

Argo KMZ Files

We have made the Argo data viewable through Google Earth™ via the Keyhole Markup Language (KML). Argo KML files are distributed as KMZ files, which are zipped KML files with a .kmz extension.

To view the Argo data in Google Earth™, you have to obtain the Google Earth™ software and instructions from the Google Earth™ site at http://earth.google.com. Users who are not familiar with Google Earth™ should visit the Google Earth™ Help Center for more information on using Google Earth™.
After installing the application, you may download the following two .kmz files, which contain the ocean profile and surface trajectory data collected by the Argo floats in the past 30 days:
then open those files using the Google Earth™ software.

In addition, we have prepared a much smaller .kmz file known as argoGE.kmz (approximate 2.8KB) . The "argoGE.kmz" contains network links to the latest and monthly archives of the Argo .kmz files and is updated on a monthly basis.

Download Tips:

  1. if you right-click when the cursor is on the above hyper-links, this brings up a menu
    -click on "Save Link As..." (this is like a Save File As, or Save Target As..)
    -save the file in a directory on your hard drive.
  2. if you left-click on the hyper-links, some browsers will open the file "on-the-fly". In this case, follow Tip#1 to download the file to your hard drive.

The monthly archives of the ocean profile and surface trajectory data collected by Argo floats are available via HTTP or FTP:
Disclaimer: The production of this data product does not constitute endorsement of Google Earth™ by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce. Use of the Google Earth™ software is limited to policies found in the software license agreements.

Access Data

Access Data - Submit Data - Intended Use of the Data? - Online Store - Customer Service

Like us on Facebook Like us on Facebook RSS feed