Data description:
The World Ocean Atlas 2005 (WOA05) contains annual, seasonal, and monthly statistical (i.e., mean, standard deviation, standard error, number of observations) and objectively analyzed fields for one-degree and five-degree squares at standard depth levels for selected ocean variables (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, apparent oxygen utilization, percent oxygen saturation, phosphate, nitrate, and silicate).

Mozilla Firefox automatically decompresses the data file during download but maintains the file extension ('gz'). This will cause problems with programs such as "gzip" or "WinZip" because they will try, and fail, to uncompress the already uncompressed file.
Internet Explorer (IE) downloads the file in compressed format and maintains the file extension ('gz').

MOZILLA USERS: Can download the data file in two ways: (1) hold the "shift" key and click on the link to the data file or (2) right-mouse click on the link and select the "Save Link Target As ..." option.

INTERNET EXPLORER USERS: Can download the data file by copying the link location to your browser and then saving the file in your local working directory.

FAST TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP) USERS: Can download data via browser from ftp server using the following URL: ftp://ftp.nodc.noaa.gov/pub/WOA05

ftp ftp.nodc.noaa.gov
login: anonymous
Password: your complete e-mail address
cd pub/WOA05/
cd to specific directory for variable
bin (to set binary transfer type)
get filename.gz (where filename is the name of your data file)
bye (to exit the ftp access)

Decompressing data:
After downloading the data file, to uncompress the file the user can use any software which can handle zip-archives, such as WinZip, WinRAR, StuffIt, MacZip, UnZip, etc. The WOA05 utilities documentation describe the use of GZIP* tools to uncompress "gz" compressed format for DOS and UNIX users. After downloading and uncompressing the file, you can view the data using any ASCII text editor.