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EN4 quality controlled ocean data: Download EN4.0.1

Important information about this dataset:

This is the version of EN4 described in Good et al. (2013), Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118, 6704-6716, doi:10.1002/2013JC009067.

A more recent version of the dataset is availble. Unless you have a specific need for this version we advise you to download the latest version.

Please be warned that owing to an error the Argo greylist was not applied in this version of EN4.

Download profiles

These zip files each contain monthly files of the profile data with quality information.

1900s 1910s 1920s
1930s 1940s 1950s
1960s 1970s 1980s
1990s 2000s 2010s

Download objective analyses

These tar files contain objective analyses formed from the profile data for each month.

1900s 1910s
1920s 1930s
1940s 1950s
1960s 1970s
1980s 1990s
2000s 2010s

Help with downloading

Use the links on the left to download the EN4 dataset a year at a time. Available for download are files containing profiles and files containing the objective analyses (you may need to scroll down the page to see the analysis files).

If you require the whole dataset one way to do this is to use wget. To do this download one of the files below (and edit it if not all files are required).
EN.4.0.1_Profiles_download_list.txt
EN.4.0.1_Analyses_download_list.txt

Assuming that you are in the directory into which the data are to be copied and that the downloaded file is also in that directory, the download can then be initiated by typing at the command line:
wget -i EN.4.0.1_Profiles_download_list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.0.1_Analyses_download_list.txt

Note: the above method was written for Linux systems but should also be applicable to other operating systems with wget installed.

File naming convention

We use a standardised file naming convention:

dataset.X.Y.Z.θ.type.[E.]date.extension

The sections of the file name are:

datasetThis is 'EN' for the EN4 dataset
XThe major dataset number (set to 4 for EN4)
YVersion number that is incremented when there is a major change to the methodology used to construct the dataset
ZVersion number that is incremented when there is a minor change to the dataset
θFor EN4 this is set to 'p' if the file is a preliminary version or 'f' if the data file has been finalised
typeEither 'profiles' if the file contains profile data or 'analysis' if the file contains an objective analysis
EIf present this indicates that time varying bias adjustments were applied to the data and the source of the bias adjustments
dateThe date in the form YYYYMM (YYYY = year, MM = month)
extensionIndicates the file type - this is 'nc' (NetCDF) for all EN4 files

File formats

The data files are stored in zip files. These can be unpacked using standard utilities such as unzip on Linux systems. The data files themselves are in NetCDF classic format (sometimes referred to as NetCDF3 files). The contents of these are summarised in the links below:

References

If using the data in a publication, please cite

Good, S. A., M. J. Martin and N. A. Rayner, 2013. EN4: quality controlled ocean temperature and salinity profiles and monthly objective analyses with uncertainty estimates, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118, 6704-6716, doi:10.1002/2013JC009067

Where appropriate please also acknowledge the data sources used to create EN4.

Bias adjustments

These data do not include time varying biases for expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) or mechanical bathythermographs (MBTs). Profiles with these included can be made available on request.

Changes compared to EN.4.0.0 and EN3 v2a

The differences compared to EN3 v2a are described in Good et al. (2013). Major differences are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • A new duplicate profile check and three new quality control checks.
  • Uncertainty estimates are provided with the objective analyses.

The main changes compared to EN.4.0.0 are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • GTSPP data are included from 1990 to present rather than from 2011.
  • The quality control algorithms for the bathymetry check and the duplicate checks were improved following experience gained from creating EN4.0.0.


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