This part of the disk contains World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) "fast delivery" in situ sea level data contributed by the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center. The data are presented in WOCE Version 3.0 netCDF format as well as EPIC netCDF and ASCII formated files. The "delayed mode" WOCE in situ sea level data are presented by the British Oceanographic Data Center in another portion of the disk package. ASCII files of data and products from the Joint Archive for Sea Level (JASL), a collaborative effort with the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), and the Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) Sea Level Program in the Pacific (SLP-Pac) are also included. The WOCE Version 3.0 disk set is the third and last in the series published and distributed by the World Data Center-A for Oceanography at the US National Oceanographic Data Center. A brief overview summarizes the WOCE "fast delivery" data and other pertinent general issues.
The WOCE Implementation Plan stated that in situ sea level data are required for two major purposes. First, the observations made during the WOCE period must be compared to longer time series in order to evaluate the representativeness of the WOCE time frame. Second, the sea level data would be needed for joint use with satellite altimeters. The WOCE plan called for a heavy reliance on sea surface height measurements derived from satellite-borne altimeters. The altimeter data needed to be checked where possible against the more traditional and well-understood sea level data from tide gauges. It was recognized, however, that this second requirement meant that sea level data had to be collected, processed, and made available to scientists much more quickly than had been done in the past. The altimetry data are available within a month or so of collection. If the in-situ data are to be of maximum utility, they must be made available on a comparable time scale. The University of Hawaii Sea Level Center (UHSLC) was a logical choice for the placement of this WOCE Data Assembly Center (DAC). The center had access to a large fraction of the open ocean gauges that were capable of reporting sea level data quickly enough to meet the near real-time requirement, and had experience with distributing data and data products on the desired time scale via the JCOMM sea level project. The University of Hawaii Sea Level Center is a research facility of the University of Hawaii/NOAA Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). The UHSLC originated as the TOGA Sea Level Center under the leadership of Professor Klaus Wyrtki of the University of Hawaii, Department of Oceanography. The center was a natural extension of Professor Wyrtki's pioneering research on the El Nino Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean. Under the current direction of Dr. Mark Merrifield, the mission of the UHSLC is to collect, process, distribute, and analyze in-situ tide gauge data from around the world in support of climate research. Primary support for the UHSLC comes from NOAA's Office of Global Programs (OGP). Funding is also provided by NASA under the JASON program for the development of In Situ Tide Gauge/GPS Stations for Monitoring the Temporal Drift of Satellite Altimeters. The UHSLC also hosts the Joint Archive for Sea Level (JASL), a collaborative effort with the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).
We invite you to
- Enter the Gateway to Data Inventories, Plots, and Documentation
- Review the netCDF primer for information about the WOCE netCDF files
We would like to hear from you! If you have any comments or questions about this section of the disk package, please let us know.
This section of the disk package should be referenced as "WOCE Data Products Committee. 2002. WOCE Global Data: Fast Delivery Sea Level, Version 3.0, WOCE International Project Office, WOCE Report No. 180/02, Southampton, UK.If you are interested in other WOCE data sets you will find summaries and information on the Data Information Unit section within this pack.