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National Oceanographic Data Center Internal Report 16
 
 

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WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 1998 FIGURES
CD-ROM Documentation
Version 1.0
 
 
 
 

Ocean Climate Laboratory
National Oceanographic Data Center

Silver Spring, MD
April, 1999
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service
 
 
 
 

NODC contact services information
 
 
 

For updates on the documentation and additional
information about the WOA98 please refer to:
 

http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5


 
click on: Products

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

National Oceanographic Data Center Internal Report 16
 

WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 1998 FIGURES
CD-ROM Documentation
Version 1.0
 
 
 

Ocean Climate Laboratory
National Oceanographic Data Center

Silver Spring, MD
April, 1999
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
William M. Daley, Secretary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
D. James Baker, Administrator

National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service
Robert S. Winokur, Assistant Administrator
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS


 


1.  INTRODUCTION

2.  CONTENTS OF WOA98F

3.  INTERACTIVE IMAGE ACCESS

4.  DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

5.  FILE NAMING CONVENTION FOR ANALYZED DATA AND STATISTICS FIGURES

6.  REFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 1998
 
A.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS World Ocean Atlas 1998 (WOA98) series
B.  World Ocean Database 1998 (WOD98) CD-ROM set
C.  World Ocean Database 1998 (WOD98) Atlas Series
 
 

LIST OF TABLES


 


Table 1.  Standard depth levels  (meters)

Table 2.  Availability of fields for each variable and the maximum depth for each
data type. An X  indicates that these files are not available for the specified
variable

Table 3.  Availability of difference fields for each variable and the maximum depth
available for each variable.  An X indicates that these files are not available
for the specified variable
 
 

LIST OF FIGURES


 


Figure 1. Directory structure for the temperature data in WOA98F-01.  Bold denotes
directories, italics denotes file names. "xx" denotes time period, 13-16
for the seasons, and 1-12 for the monthly files


 


 

 World Ocean Atlas 1998 Figures (WOA98F)
 CD-ROM Documentation
 Version 1.0

 Ocean Climate Laboratory
 National Oceanographic Data Center
 April, 1999


 
 

 
 

1. INTRODUCTION
 

The World Ocean Atlas 1998 Figures (WOA98F) CD-ROM set consists of gif images of objectively analyzed fields of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, derived oxygen variables (Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) and oxygen saturation), nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, and silicate) and chlorophyll along with figures of various statistics for these variables. This CD-ROM set is associated with the following products:

 
World Ocean Database 1998 (WOD98) CD-ROM set: contains observed and standard level flagged data used to generate the WOA98 fields. WOD98 consists of 5 CD-ROMs;

 
World Ocean Database 1998 atlas series, an eight volume series detailing the source of the WOD98 data and showing distribution plots for each variable as a function of year.

 
World Ocean Atlas 1998 publication series (12 volumes): contains figures showing objectively analyzed fields of each variable for various climatological compositing periods (annual, seasonal, monthly) at selected standard depth levels and a description of the methods used to generate the objectively analyzed fields. The present WOA98F CD set is the graphical representation of all the WOA98 fields;

 
World Ocean Atlas 1998 (WOA98) CD-ROM set: contains analyzed fields and statistics on one-degree and five-degree grids.

 
 


2. CONTENTS OF WOA98F

The figures on each WOA98F CD-ROM consist of:

 
annual, seasonal and monthly geographic data distribution and statistics of observed data for one-degree squares at vertically interpolated standard depth levels (see table 1). These statistics are not based on the objectively analyzed fields. The following statistics for each grid square are included: 1) standard deviation, 2) standard error of the mean. See table 2 for availability of statistics by variable;

 
annual, seasonal and monthly objectively analyzed mean fields by one-degree squares at standard depth levels. See table 2 for availability of objective analyses by variable;

 
"interpolation error" of the objectively analyzed fields defined as fields of observed means minus objectively analyzed means of one-degree squares at standard depth levels. See table 2 for availability of these fields by variable;

 
seasonal and monthly objectively analyzed fields minus annual mean objectively analyzed fields by one-degree squares at standard depth levels. See table 3 for availability of these fields by variable;

 
The seasons are defined as Winter (January-March), Spring (April-June), Summer (July-September), Fall (October-December) (based on the Northern Hemisphere). Table 1 lists the depths and Table 2 the available files for each variable in WOA98F. In addition to the figures, a search form is provided to enable the user to access specific figures quickly. Greater detail of the browser is provided in the following section.

 
All figures use similar symbols for displaying information. Continents are indicated as solid black areas. Ocean areas shallower than the standard depth level being displayed are gray. Regions with salinity less that 30.0 are dot stippled. Grid points for which there were less than four one-degree square values available to correct the first-guess are indicated by an X. Dashed lines represent non-standard contours. "H" and "L" indicate locations of the absolute maximum and minimum of the entire field. All figures were computer drafted.

 
  3. INTERACTIVE IMAGE ACCESS

Each CD contains a search form to enable the user to rapidly find and view the desired figure. The search form opens a web browser, either Netscape or Microsoft Explorer depending on the users computer. Versions 3.0 or higher are necessary to use this tool. To upgrade (if necessary) your browsers, the following URL addresses are given:
 

Netscape Internet Explorer

When the user accesses the search form (search.htm), a browser will open. The user will be asked to select the variable, ocean basin, standard level depth, season or month, and the type of plot desired. From the file naming convention described in section 5, the gif image will be found and loaded into the browser.
 

The Ocean Climate Laboratory would like to thank Jefferson Ogata for his help in the development of the web search engine.
 
 
 
 

4. DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
 

Temperature, salinity, and oxygen are contained in individual CDs (WOA98F-01 through WOA98F-03), nutrients (phoshate, nitrate, and silicate) and chlorophyll are in one CD (WOA98F-04). The main directory contains a sub directory woacd and an open_1st.htm file. open_1st.htm allows the user to either access the documentation or enable the search form (Figure Search). Within WOA98F are two subdirectories: doc and a directory with the variable name and an HTML search form (search.htm), which can be used to access specific figures from a browser.

 
doc contains a readme.wpd (WordPerfect 8.0 version of this document), a readme.htm (HTML version of this document) along with the images needed for the search engine.

 
Under the variable subdirectory are the four basin subdirectories: world, atlantic, pacific, and indian. Each contains the figures for the named ocean basin with the world subdirectory containing figures for the entire world's oceans.

 
Each basin directory for temperature and salinity contains three subdirectories:

 
annual directory - annual objective analyses, statistics at standard depth levels;

 
seasonal directory - seasonal objective analyses, data distribution, statistics at standard depth levels;

 
monthly directory - monthly objective analyses, data distribution, statistics at standard depth levels.

 
Each basin subdirectory for oxygen and the derived oxygen parameters contains annual, seasonal, and monthly subdirectories. However, only the world basin for oxygen and the derived oxygen parameters contains all file types (data distributions, objective analyses, and statistics at standard depth levels). The atlantic, pacific and indian basins only contain the following figures:

 
annual directory -   annual objective analyses at standard depth levels;

 
seasonal directory - seasonal objective analyses, and the seasonal minus annual fields at standard depth levels;

 
monthly directory - monthly objective analyses at standard depth levels.

 
Each basin for phosphate, silicate, nitrate and chlorophyll contains two subdirectories:

 
annual directory - annual objective analyses and statistics at standard depth levels;

 
seasonal directory - seasonal objective analyses and statistics at standard depth levels.

 
The following file types are contained within the annual, seasonal, and monthly directories:

 
Analyzed mean fields (an)

 
For temperature, salinity and oxygen:

 
- Each annual mean field is the average of the twelve analyzed monthly mean fields at and above 1500 meters. Below 1500 meters, the average of the four seasonal analyzed fields is used.

 
- Each seasonal mean field above 1500 meters is the average of the appropriate three monthly fields. Below 1500 meters, the seasonal analyzed mean field is the all-data analysis of each season.

 
- The monthly analyzed mean fields are all-data analyses.

 
For phosphate, nitrate, silicate and chlorophyll:

 
- Each annual mean field is the average of the four analyzed seasonal mean fields at and above 500 meters (surface for chlorophyll). Below 500 meters (0 meters for chlorophyll), the annual fields are the all-data analyses.

 
- The seasonal mean fields are all-data analyses.

 
Data distribution field (dd) - geographic distribution of data used in analysis

 
Seasonal or monthly fields minus annual fields (ma) - one-degree seasonal minus annual analyzed fields.

 
Observed minus annual (oa) - analyzed mean field subtracted from one-degree raw (unanalyzed) means.

 
Standard deviation field (sd) - standard deviation from the mean by one-degree squares

 
Standard error of the mean (se) - standard error of the mean by one-degree squares

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


5. FILE NAMING CONVENTION FOR ANALYZED DATA AND STATISTICS FIGURES

All the files in the directories containing the data follow the same naming convention:

[p][tp][ft][b][dd].gif
 

where:
[p] = parameter:
t = temperature
s = salinity
o = dissolved oxygen
x = percent oxygen saturation
a = Apparent Oxygen Utilization
p = phosphate
n = nitrate
i = silicate
c = chlorophyll

 
[tp] = time period:
00 = all data annual
13 - 16 = seasons (starting with Winter (Jan-Mar))
01 - 12 = months (starting with January)

 
[ft] = file type:
an = analyzed mean field
dd = distribution of data
ma = seasonal or monthly analyzed mean minus annual analyzed mean
oa = observed (raw) mean minus analyzed field
sd = standard deviation of data
se = standard error of the mean of data

 
[b] = basin
w = World ocean
a = Atlantic ocean
p = Pacific ocean
i = Indian ocean
[dd] = depth level 01 (surface) to 33 (5500 meters). Depths correspond to standard levels in Table 1.

 
Example: t14sew01.gif = standard error of the mean for spring temperature for the entire world.

 
 


6.  REFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH WORLD OCEAN ATLAS 1998

A. World Ocean Atlas 1998 (WOA98) series:

Antonov,J.I., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer,  M.E. Conkright, T.D. O'Brien, C. Stephens, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 1: Temperature of the Atlantic Ocean. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 27, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Antonov,J.I., Levitus, S., T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 2: Temperature of the Pacific Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 28, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Antonov,J.I., Levitus, S., T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, B. Trotsenko,
1998 World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 3: Temperature of the Indian Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 29, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Boyer, T.P., S. Levitus, J.I. Antonov, M. E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens,1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 4: Salinity of the Atlantic Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 30, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Boyer, T.P., S. Levitus, J.I. Antonov, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens,1998:World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 5: Salinity of the Pacific Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 31, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Boyer, T.P., S. Levitus, J.I. Antonov, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, B. Trotsenko, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 6: Salinity of the Indian Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 32, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Conkright, M.E., T.D. O'Brien, S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, C. Stephens, J.I. Antonov, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 10: Nutrient and Chlorophyll of the Atlantic Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 36, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Conkright M.E.,  T.D. O'Brien., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, Boyer, C. Stephens, J.I. Antonov, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 11: Nutrient and Chlorophyll of the Pacific Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 37, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Conkright M.E.,  T.D. O'Brien, M., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, Boyer, C. Stephens, J.I. Antonov, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 12: Nutrient and Chlorophyll of the Indian Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 38, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

O'Brien, T.D., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, J.I. Antonov, C. Stephens, 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 7: Oxygen of the Atlantic Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 33, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

O'Brien, T.D., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, J.I. Antonov, C. Stephens 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 8: Oxygen of the Pacific Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 34, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

O'Brien, T.D., S. Levitus, T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, J.I. Antonov, C. Stephens 1998: World Ocean Atlas 1998 Vol. 9: Oxygen of the Indian Ocean.  NOAA Atlas NESDIS 35, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.
 

B.  World Ocean Database 1998 (WOD98) CD-ROM set:

Conkright, M.E., S. Levitus, T. O'Brien, T.P. Boyer, C. Stephens, D. Johnson, L. Stathoplos, O. Baranova, J. Antonov, R. Gelfeld, J. Burney, J. Rochester, & C. Forgy  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Documentation and Quality Control. National Oceanographic Data Center, Silver Spring, MD.
 

C.  World Ocean Database 1998 (WOD98) Atlas Series:

Boyer, T. P., J. Antonov, S. Levitus, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, D. Johnson, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 3: Temporal Distribution of Expendable Bathythermograph Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 20, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Boyer, T. P., M.E. Conkright, S. Levitus, C. Stephens, T. O'Brien, D. Johnson, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 4: Temporal Distribution of Conductivity/Salinity-Temperature-Depth (Pressure) Stations. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 21, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Boyer, T. P., M.E. Conkright, S. Levitus, D. Johnson, J. Antonov, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 5: Temporal Distribution of Station Data Temperature and Salinity Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 22, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Conkright, M. E., T. O'Brien, L. Stathoplos, C. Stephens, T.P. Boyer, D. Johnson, S. Levitus, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 8: Temporal Distribution of Station Data Chlorophyll and Plankton Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 25, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

 Conkright, M. E., T.P. Boyer, S. Levitus, D. Johnson, T. O'Brien, C. Stephens, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 6: Temporal Distribution of Station Data Nutrient Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 23, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Levitus, S., T.P. Boyer, M.E. Conkright, T. O'Brien, J. Antonov, C. Stephens, L. Stathoplos, D. Johnson, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 1: Introduction. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 18, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

Levitus, S., T.P.Boyer, M.E. Conkright, D. Johnson, T. O'Brien, J. Antonov, C. Stephens, & R. Gelfeld  (1998)World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 2: Temporal Distribution of Mechanical Bathythermograph Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 19, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.

O'Brien, T., M.E. Conkright, T.P. Boyer, S. Levitus, D. Johnson, C. Stephens, & R. Gelfeld  (1998) World Ocean Database 1998 Volume 7: Temporal Distribution of Station Data  Oxygen, pH, and Alkalinity Profiles. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 24, U.S. Government Printing Office,  Washington, D.C.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Table 1. Standard levels and depths (meters)
Depth Level
0 1
10 2
20 3
30 4
50 5
75 6
100 7
125 8
150 9
200 10
250 11
300 12
400 13
500 14
600 15
700 16
800 17
900 18
1000 19
1100 20
1200 21
1300 22
1400 23
1500 24
1750 25
2000 26
2500 27
3000 28
3500 29
4000 30
4500 31
5000 32
5500 33

 
 
 
 
 
Table 2. Availability of figures for each variable and the maximum depth for each data type. An X indicates that these figures are not available for the specified variable.
Variable Annual Seasonal Monthly
Temperature 5500 5500 1500
Salinity 5500 5500 1500
Dissolved Oxygen 5500 5500 1500
Apparent Oxygen Utilization 5500 5500 1500
Oxygen Saturation 5500 5500 1500
Phosphate 5500 500 X
Nitrate 5500 500 X
Silicate 5500 500 X
Chlorophyll 100 surface X

 
 
 
Table 3. Availability of difference figures for each variable and the maximum depth available for each variable. An X indicates that these figures are not available for the specified variable.
Variable Seasonal Monthly
Temperature 5500 1500
Salinity 5500 1500
Dissolved Oxygen 5500 1500
Apparent Oxygen Utilization 5500 1500
Oxygen Saturation 5500 1500
Phosphate 500 X
Nitrate 500 X
Silicate 500 X
Chlorophyll surface X

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1.  Directory structure for the temperature data in WOA98F-01. Bold denotes directories, italics denotes file names. "xx" denotes time period, 13-16 for the seasons, and 01-12 for the monthly files. "b" denotes the basin, "a" for Atlantic, "i" for Indian, "p" for Pacific and "w" for world. "dp" denotes the standard depth level, see Tables 1,2 and 3 for the maximum depths of each plot type.

open_1st.htm
 
woaf_cd

 
search.htm

 
doc
atlas.gif
woaflogo.jpg
bg.gif
doclogo.gif
engine.jpg
read.jpg
readme.htm
readme.wpd
servv3.jpg
 
temperat
atlantic
indian
pacific
world
annualseasonalmonthly 
t00anbdp.giftxxanbdp.giftxxanbdp.gifan= analyzed field
t00ddbdp.giftxxddbdp.giftxxddbdp.gifdd= data distribution
t00oabdp.giftxxoabdp.giftxxoabdp.gifoa= observed mean minus analyzed
t00sdbdp.giftxxsdbdp.giftxxsdbdp.gifsd= standard deviation
t00sebdp.giftxxsebdp.giftxxsebdp.gifse= standard error
 txxmabdp.giftxxmabdp.gifma= seasonal or monthly mean minus annual fields

 

Example: t00ana26.gif = analyzed mean field for annual temperature at 2000 m (standard depth level 26) for the Atlantic Ocean.

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