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EN3: quality controlled subsurface ocean temperature and salinity data

Information about this dataset: a new version (EN4) is now available. There will be no further updates to EN3.

Brief description of the dataset

The EN3 dataset consists of two products:

Observed subsurface ocean temperature and salinity profiles with data quality information, and,
Objective analyses formed from the profile data.

Data are available from 1950 to the present and there are separate files for each month. The sources of the data used to produce the most recent version of the EN3 dataset were WOD05, GTSPP, Argo and the ASBO project. Please see the data sources page for more information (including details of the sources of the Arctic data collated by the ASBO project) and acknowledgements.

Obtaining the EN3 dataset

The current version of the EN3 dataset is EN3_v2a. This can be downloaded by following the link below:
Download the current version of EN3

The data can be obtained without charge for private study or scientific research, but please do read the terms and conditions before use. Some previous versions of the dataset are also available from the download page.

More information

Description of file formats
History of the dataset: Information about the origins of the dataset and the differences between versions.
Data sources and acknowledgements
Description of quality tests and data processing: The data quality control checks and production of the objective analyes are described in Ingleby and Huddleston (2007). Although this documents EN2 (a previous release of the dataset), the data processing methodology remains broadly unchanged. The latest version of EN3 used a list of suspect Argo floats identified using altimetry data, which was downloaded from ftp://ftp.ifremer.fr/ifremer/argo/etc/argo-ast9-item13-AltimeterComparison/. The method used to produce this list is described in Guinehut et al. (2009).
Versions of the EN3_v2a profile data with time varying expendable bathythermograph (XBT) bias corrections are available from the Download page.
Files that enable the undoing of the cold water tapering of XBT corrections are provided for the latest dataset from the Download EN3_v2a page.

Examples

The figures below show the most recent objective analysis fields minus a climatology for 1971-2000 (created from the EN2 objective analyses) averaged over the upper 725 m of ocean (corresponding to the top 24 levels of the analyses).

Temperature and salinity anomalies in the top 725m

Data are available from the download page without charge for the purposes of private study and scientific research, but please read the terms and conditions.

Commercial and media enquiries

You can access the Met Office Customer Centre, any time of the day or night by phone, fax or e-mail. Trained staff will help you find the information or products that are right for you.
Contact the Met Office Customer Centre

References

When using the data set in a paper, the following is the correct citation to use (pdf file):

Ingleby, B., and M. Huddleston, 2007: Quality control of ocean temperature and salinity profiles - historical and real-time data. Journal of Marine Systems, 65, 158-175 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2005.11.019

The time varying XBT corrections are described in:

Wijffels, S., J. Willis, C. M. Domingues, P. Barker, N. J. White, A. Gronell, K. Ridgway and J. A. Church, 2008, Changing expendable bathythermograph fall rates and their impact on estimates of thermosteric sea level rise, Journal of Climate, 21, 21, 5657-5672, DOI:10.1175/2008JCLI2290.1

The altimetry quality control methodology is described in:

Guinehut, S., C. Coatanoan, A.-L. Dhomps, P.-Y. Le Traon and G. Larnicol, 2009. On the use of satellite altimeter data in Argo quality control, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 26, 395-402, DOI: 10.1175/2008JTECHO648.1

Dataset produced in collaboration with: