World Ocean Atlas 2001 (WOA01)
This is adapted from
World Ocean Atlas 2001 CD-ROM Documentation
Ocean Climate Laboratory
National Oceanographic Data Center
The World Ocean Atlas 2001 (WOA01) Series consists of two set of products. The first set of products consists of three DATA CD-ROMs containing global data statistics at standard depth levels by one-degree and five-degree squares of several commonly measured ocean variables, as well as objectively analyzed fields (on a one-degree grid) of these variables. The ocean variables included in this series are: in-situ temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, apparent oxygen utilization (aou), percent oxygen saturation, dissolved inorganic nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, and silicate), and chlorophyll at standard depth levels, and plankton biomass sampled between 0m and 200m depth. The second set of products consists of three FIGURE DVDs containing PDF figures illustrating the fields found on the DATA CD-ROMs. For more information on ordering these CD-ROMs, see the WOA01 website.
This CD-ROM set is associated with the following products:
As with previous works, we have vertically interpolated ocean profile data from "observed" depth levels to standard depth levels. We define 33 standard depth levels extending from the sea surface to 5500m depth as given in Table 1. Several statistics are then computed, by one-degree and five-degree squares, for the world ocean at the each standard depth level and for various climatological, all-data, compositing periods as documented in Table 2.
The DATA CD-ROMs contain objectively analyzed fields (one-degree grid) and statistics (unanalyzed) for one-degree squares and five-degree squares at standard depth levels (Table 1) for all ocean variables, and for the 0-200 meter layer for the plankton biomass values. The maximum depth for which objective analyses and statistics were computed for each variable and for each climatological compositing period is shown in Table 2.
The seasons are defined as Winter (January-March), Spring (April-June), Summer (July-September), Fall (October-December) (based on the Northern Hemisphere).
The following fields are available at annual, seasonal, and monthly time scales:
Table
1. Standard levels and depths (meters)
Depth | Level | Depth | Level | Depth | Level |
0 | 1 | 300 | 12 | 1400 | 23 |
10 | 2 | 400 | 13 | 1500 | 24 |
20 | 3 | 500 | 14 | 1750 | 25 |
30 | 4 | 600 | 15 | 2000 | 26 |
50 | 5 | 700 | 16 | 2500 | 27 |
75 | 6 | 800 | 17 | 3000 | 28 |
100 | 7 | 900 | 18 | 3500 | 29 |
125 | 8 | 1000 | 19 | 4000 | 30 |
150 | 9 | 1100 | 20 | 4500 | 31 |
200 | 10 | 1200 | 21 | 5000 | 32 |
250 | 11 | 1300 | 22 | 5500 | 33 |
Table
2. Availability of objective analyses and statistics by climatological compositing periods
for each ocean variable, and the maximum depth (meters) for which objective analyses and statistics
were computed. A dash character "-" indicates these products were not computed for the
specified variable and climatological period.
Variable | Annual | Seasonal | Monthly |
Temperature | 5500 | 5500 | 1500 |
Salinity | 5500 | 5500 | 1500 |
Dissolved Oxygen | 5500 | 5500 | 1500 |
Apparent Oxygen Utilization | 5500 | 5500 | 1500 |
Percent Oxygen Saturation | 5500 | 5500 | 1500 |
Phosphate | 5500 | 500 | 500 |
Nitrate | 5500 | 500 | 500 |
Silicate | 5500 | 500 | 500 |
Chlorophyll | 100 | surface | - |
Total Plankton Biomass: All biomass types+ | 0-200* | - | - |
Total Plankton Biomass: Calculated carbon mass | 0-200* | 0-200* | - |
Table
3. Basins defined for objective analysis and the shallowest standard depth
level for which each basin is defined.
# | BASIN | STANDARD
DEPTH LEVEL |
# | BASIN | STANDARD
DEPTH LEVEL |
1 | Atlantic Ocean | 1 | 30 | North American Basin | 29 |
2 | Pacific Ocean | 1 | 31 | West European Basin | 29 |
3 | Indian Ocean | 1 | 32 | Southeast Indian Basin | 29 |
4 | Mediterranean Sea | 1 | 33 | Coral Sea | 29 |
5 | Baltic Sea | 1 | 34 | East Indian Ocean | 29 |
6 | Black Sea | 1 | 35 | Central Indian Ocean | 29 |
7 | Red Sea | 1 | 36 | Southwest Atlantic | 29 |
8 | Persian Gulf | 1 | 37 | Southeast Atlantic | 29 |
9 | Hudson Bay | 1 | 38 | Southeast Pacific | 29 |
10 | Southern Ocean | 1 | 39 | Guatemala Basin | 29 |
11 | Arctic Ocean | 1 | 40 | East Caroline Basin | 30 |
12 | Sea of Japan | 1 | 41 | Marianas Basin | 30 |
13 | Kara Sea | 8 | 42 | Philippine Sea | 30 |
14 | Sulu Sea | 10 | 43 | Arabian Sea | 30 |
15 | Baffin Bay | 14 | 44 | Chile Basin | 30 |
16 | East Mediterranean | 16 | 45 | Somali Basin | 30 |
17 | West Mediterranean | 19 | 46 | Mascarene Basin | 30 |
18 | Sea of Okhotsk | 19 | 47 | Crosat Basin | 30 |
19 | Banda Sea | 23 | 48 | Guinea Basin | 30 |
20 | Caribbean Sea | 23 | 49 | Brazil Basin | 31 |
21 | Andaman Basin | 25 | 50 | Argentine Basin | 31 |
22 | North Caribbean | 26 | 51 | Tasman Sea | 30 |
23 | Gulf of Mexico | 26 | 52 | Atlantic Indian Basin | 31 |
24 | Beaufort Sea | 28 | 53 | Caspian Sea | 1 |
25 | South China Sea | 28 | 54 | Sulu Sea II | 14 |
26 | Barents Sea | 28 | 55 | Venezuela Basin | 14 |
27 | Celebes Sea | 25 | 56 | Bay of Bengal | 1 |
28 | Aleutian Basin | 28 | 57 | Java Sea | 6 |
29 | Fiji Basin | 29 | 58 | East Indian Atlantic Basin | 32 |