For technical help or to report problems, please e-mail OCL.help@noaa.gov

Data description:
The World Ocean Database 2018 (WOD18) is an update of World Ocean Database 2013 (WOD13). The WOD data are available online presorted by 10° geographic squares, by year , or user specified via WODselect data selection tool at standard or observed depth levels.

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Downloading individual data files:
All the WOD ASCII output files are in GZIP compressed format. However, the user should be aware that different web browsers handle GZIP compressed files differently.

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: https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/woa/WOD or download the data directly via ftp.

ftp ftp.nodc.noaa.gov
login: anonymous
Password: your complete e-mail address
cd pub/WOD
bin (to set binary transfer type)
get filename.gz
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 WOD 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.

Reading WOD native data format:
The WOD data format description can be found in the WOD documentation. The data format is comprised of several sections including primary, secondary, variable-specific second headers, character data, taxa-specific and biomass data, and measured variables.

The WOD native data format can be read in a number of ways:

(1) The user can use any of a number of sample programs in FORTRAN and C to read the WOD native data format or the user can write his/her own code. The programs provided are designed as examples on how to read the WOD data for all types of datasets and convert data into a form useable in Matlab and ArcGIS. The sample programs prompt the user to input a data file to read casts and variables included in these casts to the screen. Note that the user needs to modify the programs to incorporate user specific needs such as single or multiple input data files, output file(s), number of cast, data output format and number of variables. The metadata codes listed within each cast are described in the code tables.

(2) The user can also use the Ocean Data View (ODV) software package to read the WOD native format and display the data. The latest version is available from ODV website.  The user will need to open a new ODV collection (or add to an existing ODV collection) and specify "World Ocean Database Variables" in the "Definition of Collection Variables" menu. The detailed instructions are available from WOD tutorial (pdf, 0.1 MB). Note that ODV will not be able to read surface only data; originator's quality flags; or plankton biomass and taxonomic data in the OSD file.

Reading WOD comma separated value (".csv") format:
The WOD ".csv" output files are space and comma-separated ASCII values. The ".csv" files can be imported into any software that allows to read "csv" data format such as Microsoft Excel. Please see the WOD "csv" data format description.

For technical help or to report problems, please e-mail OCL.help@noaa.gov