World Ocean Atlas 2023

The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a collection of objectively analyzed, quality controlled temperature, salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate means based on profile data from the World Ocean Database (WOD). It can be used to create boundary and/or initial conditions for a variety of ocean models, verify numerical simulations of the ocean, and corroborate satellite data.

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IdentificationAbout this resource

Alternate Identifier

af34925d-2dea-462a-b83f-c123db12b150

Publication Date
2023-09-28
Title

World Ocean Atlas 2023

Short Name

WOA23

Abstract

The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a collection of objectively analyzed, quality controlled temperature, salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate means based on profile data from the World Ocean Database (WOD). It can be used to create boundary and/or initial conditions for a variety of ocean models, verify numerical simulations of the ocean, and corroborate satellite data.

Dataset Language

English

 
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Metadata Provider
Dataset Contact
Keywords ()

  • Dissolved oxygen

  • Ocean salinity

  • Ocean temperature

  • Nitrate

  • Silicate

  • Phosphate

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Description

Global

Bounding Box

West Bounding Coordinate

-180

East Bounding Coordinate

180

North Bounding Coordinate

90

South Bounding Coordinate

-90

Bounding Altitudes

Minimum
Maximum
Unit

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Begin Date

1955-01-01

End Date

2022-12-31

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Intellectual Rights

No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

 

Distribution

Online

A brief description of the the content of online URL.

THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) Data Server (TDS)

URL
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds-ocean/catalog/woa23/DATA/catalog.html

Distribution

Online

A brief description of the the content of online URL.

World Ocean Atlas 2023 Data

URL
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/world-ocean-atlas-2023/
 
 

Project

• Project

Title

World Ocean Atlas

Abstract

World Ocean Atlas 2023 (WOA23) is a set of objectively analyzed (one degree grid and quarter degree grid) climatological fields of in situ temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU), percent oxygen saturation, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate at standard depth levels for annual, seasonal, and monthly compositing periods for the World Ocean. Quarter degree fields are for temperature and salinity only. It also includes associated statistical fields of observed oceanographic profile data interpolated to standard depth levels on quarter degree, one degree, and five degree grids. Temperature and salinity fields are available for seven decades (1955-1964, 1965-1974, 1975-1984, 1985-1994, 1995-2004, 2005-2014, and 2015-2022), for three thirty year climate normal periods (1971-2000, 1981-2010, and 1991-2020), and for an average of the seven individual decades (1955-2022). Oxygen fields (as well as AOU and percent oxygen saturation) are available using all quality controlled bottle, CTD, and profiling float data from 1965-2022 as well as a thirty year climate normal using bottle and CTD data for 1971-2000. Nutrient fields are available using all quality controlled bottle data from the entire sampling period between 1965-2022. This accession is a product generated by the National Centers for Environmental Informations (NCEI) Ocean Climate Laboratory Team. The analyses are derived from the NCEI World Ocean Database 2023.

Personnel

Organization Name

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information

Individual Name

Given Name
Surname
Position Name
 
 

Methods

• Method

Method Step

Description
Citation

Reagan, James R.; Boyer, Tim P.; García, Hernán E.; Locarnini, Ricardo A.; Baranova, Olga K.; Bouchard, Courtney; Cross, Scott L.; Mishonov, Alexey V.; Paver, Christopher R.; Seidov, Dan; Wang, Zhankun; Dukhovskoy, Dmitry (2023). World Ocean Atlas 2023. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25921/va26-hv25.

Software

Title
Version

2023

Method Step

Description

This atlas consists of a description of data analysis procedures and horizontal maps of climatological distribution fields of temperature at selected standard depth levels of the World Ocean on one-degree and quarter-degree latitude-longitude grids. The aim of the maps is to illustrate large-scale characteristics of the distribution of ocean temperature. The fields used to generate these climatological maps were computed by objective analysis of all scientifically quality-controlled historical temperature data in the World Ocean Database 2023. Maps are presented for climatological composite periods: annual and seasonal at 102 standard depths from surface to 5500 m, and monthly at 57 standard depths from surface to 1500 m

Citation

Locarnini, R.A., A.V. Mishonov, O.K. Baranova, J.R. Reagan, T.P. Boyer, D. Seidov, Z. Wang, H.E. Garcia, C. Bouchard, S.L. Cross, C.R. Paver, and D. Dukhovskoy (2024). World Ocean Atlas 2023, Volume 1: Temperature. A. Mishonov Technical Editor, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 89. https://doi.org/10.25923/54bh-1613

Method Step

Description

This atlas consists of a description of data analysis procedures and horizontal maps of climatological distribution fields of salinity at selected standard depth levels of the World Ocean on a one-degree and quarter-degree latitude-longitude grids. The aim of the maps is to illustrate large-scale characteristics of the variability in ocean salinity. The fields used to generate these climatological maps were computed by objective analysis of all scientifically quality-controlled historical salinity data in the World Ocean Database 2023. Maps are presented for climatological composite periods: annual and seasonal at 102 standard depths, and monthly at 57 standard depths.

Citation

Reagan, J.R., D. Seidov, Z. Wang, D. Dukhovskoy, T.P. Boyer, R.A. Locarnini, O.K. Baranova, A.V. Mishonov, H.E. Garcia, C. Bouchard, S.L. Cross, and C.R. Paver. (2024). World Ocean Atlas 2023, Volume 2: Salinity. A. Mishonov, Technical Editor, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 90. https://doi.org/10.25923/70qt-9574

Method Step

Description

The World Ocean Atlas (WOA23) presents measures of dissolved oxygen (O2), Apparent Oxxgen Utilisation (AOU), and O2 percent saturation (Os) for the 1965 to 2022 (WOA23F) and 1971-2000 (WOA23N; 30 year 'climate normal' time periods). WOA23F uses O2 measurements from chemical and sensor-based, totaling 27.4 million measurements from the World Ocean Database 2023 (WOD23). A O2 solubility adjustment rate as a function of depth (0-1500m) and time (1965-2022) was calculated using yearly in situ temperature anomalies and applied to all O2 measurements to minimize the effect of ocean warming on =2 solubility between sampling years.

Citation

Garcia, H.E., Z. Wang, C. Bouchard, S.L. Cross, C.R. Paver, J.R. Reagan, T.P. Boyer, R.A. Locarnini, A.V. Mishonov, O. Baranova, D. Seidov, and D. Dukhovskoy (2024). World Ocean Atlas 2023, Volume 3: Dissolved Oxygen, Apparent Oxygen Utilization, Dissolved Oxygen Saturation and 30 year Climate Normal. A. Mishonov, Tech. Ed. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 91. https://doi.org/10.25923/rb67-ns53

Method Step

Description

Global mean ocean content for each nutrient variable are calculated for composite time periods (annual, seasonal, monthly, seasonal and monthly difference fields from the annual mean field, standard deviation, number of observations) at 102 standard depths (0-5500 m depth) on a one-degree latitude-longitude spatial grid resolution. WOA23 is based on quality-controlled nutrient measurements from NOAA's World Ocean Database 2023 (WOD23).

Citation

Garcia, H.E., C. Bouchard, S.L. Cross, C.R. Paver, Z. Wang, J.R. Reagan, T.P. Boyer, R.A. Locarnini, A.V. Mishonov, O. Baranova, D. Seidov, and D. Dukhovskoy (2024). World Ocean Atlas 2023, Volume 4: Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, silicate). A. Mishonov, Tech. Ed. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 92. https://doi.org/10.25923/39qw-7j08

 
 

Data Tables

• Data Table

Name

AOU

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

AOU-err

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

nitrate

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

o2sat

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

o2sat-err

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

oxygen

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

oxygen-err

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

phosphate

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

salinity

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

silicate

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE

• Data Table

Name

temperature

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name

ASCII, CSV, NetCDF, SHAPE