This disk contains upper ocean temperature and salinity data mainly from Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs) but also from Condutivity-Temperature-Depths (CTDs) and bottles. There is information about  the low resolution (real-time) and high resolution (delayed mode) XBT programmes, the data collected, and summaries of the available data.  In addition, there are now a substantial number of profiling floats operating in the oceans and also included in this disk.

The WOCE Upper Ocean Thermal (UOT) Data Assembly Centre (DAC) is a distributed body with several components which work in partnership with the IOC/WMO sponsored Global Temperature Salinity Profile Program (GTSPP).  The job of assembling the data sent either over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) or coming in delayed mode is the task for Canada's Marine Environmental Data Service (MEDS), IFREMER of France, and the U.S. National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). Three science centres, the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation(CSIRO)/Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre(BMRC) Joint Australian Facility for Ocean Observation System (JAFOOS) in Australia (responsible for Indian Ocean data), Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) of the US National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration (responsible for Atlantic Ocean data) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (responsible for Pacific Ocean data) in the US carry out scientific quality assessment of the data and return their results to the main archive at the NODC.

What's New: A brief discussion of changes have been made since the Version 2 CD was issued.

Overview:   A brief discussion of the composition of the UOT and  some general issues regarding data.

Data Files:   The temperature and salinity profiles collected by the WOCE UOT DAC. The data files are written in netCDF and in the same format as the profile data in the WOCE Profiling Float Data collection to aid in comparisons of the two kinds of data. All data files are split into 3 oceans, quarters of years and compressed. In addition, we have included on this disk a Top table inventory listing and a Sub table inventory file. The Top inventory table shows an inventory of the compressed files and has the min and max of the entire compressed file; while the Sub inventory is of the individual netCDF files contained within those compressed files and has the min and max of every individual file within that compressed file.

Data Products: Presentations that show the products of the data contained in this folder. The data products are available from the three science centers of the GTSPP at JAFOOS, AOML, and Scripps.

Summaries:   Presentations that show the characteristics of the data contained in this folder and of the real-time archives maintained at MEDS. The latter are included for those who do not know about these data. The data are available from the real-time archive of the GTSPP at MEDS.

Documents:    Documents from the WOCE Upper Ocean Thermal Panel meetings, Quality Control processing manuals generated by this project and the Global Temperature Salinity Profile Program (GTSPP), some documents that describe aspects of data processing and, finally, documents about the GTSPP, an important partner to the UOT. There are also a number of other documents to explain the content of the data files, and various code tables used in the data. Please review the netCDF primer for learning to access the NetCDF files. Finally, a translation table between ship call signs (used in sending low resolution data through the IGOSS system) and the ship name.

We would like to hear from you! If you have any comments about UOT DAC, the online database or this disk, or any complaints or suggestions for improvement, please let us know by sending an electronic mail to services@nodc.noaa.gov or services@meds-sdmm.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

Data and documents in this folder of this WOCE DATA DVD should be referenced as "WOCE Data Products Committee. 2002.  WOCE Global Data: Upper Ocean Thermal Data, Version 3.0, WOCE International Project Office, WOCE Report No. 180/02, Southampton, UK".

Many agencies have played important roles in the development of the UOT DAC and GTSPP system. This disk is the result of the efforts of all of these groups. Their contribution is described in the Acknowledgment section.

If you are interested in other WOCE datasets you will find summaries and information on the Data Information Unit folder within this pack.