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Data Sources

This page documents the native properties of the upstream products used in the project.

Use Depth Alignment for ARGO-to-GLORYS vertical resampling and Production Dataset for spatial and temporal dataset assembly.

Overview

Source Role In Project Native Sampling Key Variables
GLORYS 3D ocean reanalysis field global gridded field, fixed 50 depth levels thetao, depth
OSTIA daily surface temperature field daily global 2D grid analysed_sst
EN4 / ARGO profiles in-situ temperature observations profile-specific corrected depths TEMP, DEPH_CORRECTED

Product A: GLORYS Reanalysis

GLORYS banner

GLORYS is a global ocean reanalysis product that provides physically consistent 3D temperature fields on a fixed depth grid.

  • Provider: Copernicus Marine Service
  • Product family: Global Ocean Physics Reanalysis
  • Source model used here: MERCATOR GLORYS12V1
  • Native variables used here: thetao, depth
  • Vertical coordinate: 50 fixed depth levels from roughly 0.494 m to 5727.917 m

Relevant helper scripts: - data/get_glorys/download_glorys_monthly.sh - data/get_glorys/download_glorys_weekly.sh

GLORYS depth distribution:
img

Product B: OSTIA Surface EO

OSTIA banner

OSTIA is a satellite- and in-situ-derived ocean surface temperature product that provides daily global sea-surface temperature fields.

  • Provider: Copernicus Marine Service / UKMO OSTIA stream
  • Dataset used here: SST_GLO_SST_L4_REP_OBSERVATIONS_010_011
  • Native variable used here: analysed_sst
  • Temporal sampling: one daily SST snapshot at 12:00 UTC
  • Geometry: global 2D grid

OSTIA example tile:
img

Product C: EN4 / ARGO Profiles

ARGO banner

EN4 / ARGO provides in-situ ocean temperature profiles with irregular corrected depth samples that capture sparse but physically grounded vertical structure.

  • Provider: UK Met Office Hadley Centre EN4
  • Dataset family: EN4.2.2 profile archives
  • Raw variables used here: TEMP, DEPH_CORRECTED
  • Profile storage: rectangular arrays with capacity for up to 400 profile samples
  • Vertical sampling: corrected depths vary profile-by-profile and are irregular in physical depth

Relevant helper script: - data/get_argo/download_en4_profiles.sh

Archive-wide corrected-depth histogram with GLORYS reference levels:
img

  • The histogram aggregates finite DEPH_CORRECTED values over the scanned EN4 archive.
  • Sampling density is concentrated in the upper ocean and decreases with depth.
  • The dotted GLORYS depth markers show the discrete reference levels used elsewhere in the project.

Example ARGO profile in 3D:
img
Important: z shows the netCDF dimension (400), not actual depth.

Raw Product Notes

Representative raw GLORYS variables:
| Variable | Dimensions | Description | Units | |---|---|---|---| | bottomT | (time, latitude, longitude) | Sea floor potential temperature | degrees_C | | mlotst | (time, latitude, longitude) | Mixed layer thickness | m | | zos | (time, latitude, longitude) | Sea surface height | m | | so | (time, depth, latitude, longitude) | Salinity | Practical Salinity Unit | | thetao | (time, depth, latitude, longitude) | Temperature | degrees_C | | uo | (time, depth, latitude, longitude) | Eastward velocity | m s-1 | | vo | (time, depth, latitude, longitude) | Northward velocity | m s-1 |