Met Office Hadley Centre observations datasets
Home > EN4 > Download data >

EN4 quality controlled ocean data: Download EN.4.2.2

Important information about this dataset:
This is the current version of the dataset. Profiles and analyses with four different sets of bias corrections applied are available: 1) Gouretski and Reseghetti (2010) corrections; 2) Levitus et al (2009) corrections; 3) Cowley et al (2013) corrections and 4) Cheng et al (2014) corrections. For Gouretski, Levitus and Cheng the corrections used were updates of the original corrections published in the papers. The following pages give more general information about bias corrections for profile data: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/xbt-corrections and https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/mbt-corrections. Please get in touch if you would like to use data without bias corrections applied.

WARNING: We were unable to fully access GTSPP data in October to December 2023. This issue has now been resolved and the files reprocessed to incorporate the new data. If you downloaded data for October 2023 to December 2023 between the 12th December 2023 and 29th January 2024 we would recommend now downloading the new files available.

WARNING:The September 2024 data files were produced without any GTSPP (our non-Argo source) data in the Pacific Ocean owing to a data processing problem. We are working to resolve this issue.

Download profiles - Gouretski and Reseghetti (2010) XBT corrections and Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections.

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
2020s

Download objective analyses - Gouretski and Reseghetti (2010) XBT corrections and Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections

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
2020s

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 with two different sets of bias corrections. Use the links below to scroll to the section of the page with the files you want.

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.4.2.2.profiles.g10.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.analyses.g10.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.profiles.l09.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.analyses.l09.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.profiles.c13.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.analyses.c13.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.profiles.c14.download-list.txt
EN.4.2.2.analyses.c14.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.4.2.2.profiles.g10.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.analyses.g10.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.profiles.l09.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.analyses.l09.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.profiles.c13.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.analyses.c13.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.profiles.c14.download-list.txt
or
wget -i EN.4.2.2.analyses.c14.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 formats

The data files are stored in zip files. These can be unpacked using standard utilities such as unzip on Linux systems. Within the zip files are data files which are in the NetCDF classic format with support for large files (64 bit offset format). The contents of these are broadly identical to that used in the previous version, as summarised in the links below. The profile files do have some additional information that relate to the application of bias corrections. These can be used to determine which profiles were corrected and what the corrections were. Please contact us for more information if required.

File naming convention

We use a standardised file naming convention. For the zip files the form is:

    dataset.X.Y.Z.type.[E.]year.extension

For the data files an expanded form is used:

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

The sections of the names are:

dataset This is 'EN' for the EN4 dataset
X The major dataset number (set to 4 for EN4)
Y Version number that is incremented when there is a major change to the methodology used to construct the dataset
Z Version number that is incremented when there is a minor change to the dataset
θ For EN4 this is set to 'p' if the file is a preliminary version or 'f' if the data file has been finalised
type This is 'profiles' if the file contains profile data. For objective analysis data it is set to 'analysis' (data files) or 'analyses' (zip files)
E If present this indicates that time varying bias adjustments were applied to the data and the source of the bias adjustments
year The year of the data in the file (zip file names only)
date The date in the form YYYYMM (YYYY = year, MM = month) (data file names only)
extension Indicates the file type - this is 'nc' (NetCDF) for all EN4 data files and 'zip' for zip files

Product User Guide

A product user guide is available as a pdf. This includes more in depth material including how to work with the bias correction and uncertainty information and a description of the data format.


Citing the data

Please see the terms and conditions page for the appropriate way to cite the EN4 data, its bias corrections and its sources.

Updates

This dataset is updated on a monthly basis. Data are available about two months after they are collected. Preliminary versions of the data are generated about a month earlier; these can be downloaded below when they become available (most recent is listed first; the files are compressed using gzip and can be uncompressed using, for example, the Linux gunzip utility).

Changes in EN.4.2.2 compared to EN.4.2.1

The changes compared to EN.4.2.1 are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • The updating of the values used for the Levitus et al (2009) corrections.
  • The use of new Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections in the .g10. and .c14. ensemble members. In .g10. these replace the Gouretski and Reseghetti (2010) MBT corrections.
  • The addition of corrections to T10 XBTs in the .g10. corrections.
  • The addition of Cheng et al (2014) XBT bias corrected data (paired with Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections) in the .c14. ensemble member.
  • The addition of Cowley et al (2013) XBT bias corrected data (paired with the Levitus et al (2009) MBT corrections) in the .c13. ensemble member.
  • The addition of licence and reference attributes to all netCDF files to aid correct citations and use.
  • The removal of data from eight TAO buoys between 2015 and 2016 after spurious salinity values were found by a user in EN.4.2.1.
  • The removal of a single early Argo float after stuck depths were reported by a user in EN.4.2.1.

Changes in EN.4.2.1 compared to EN.4.2.0

The changes compared to EN.4.2.0 are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • A removal of the six moored buoys that caused unrealistic temperatures in the analyses in the Labrador Sea between 1988 and 1990.

Changes in EN.4.2.0 compared to EN.4.1.1

The changes compared to EN.4.1.1 are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • A removal of the wrongly added 273.15 value from the temperature_uncertainty fields in the objective analyses.
  • A change of units for practical salinity from psu to 1. This change does not affect the values themselves, but it makes the variable CF compliant.

Changes in EN.4.1.1 compared to EN.4.1.0

The changes between EN.4.1.1 and EN.4.1.0 are as follows:

  • A fresh download of the source data.

Changes in EN.4.1.0 compared to EN.4.0.2

The main changes compared to version 4.0.2 of the dataset are:

  • A fresh download of the source data.
  • Objective analyses formed from bias corrected data are now available.
  • Fixed minor error in the duplicate check.
  • GTSPP profiles with data type 'TE' now have some thinning applied to reduce the density of observations.
  • Black Sea observations are no longer automatically rejected.

References

S. Levitus et al., 2009: Global ocean heat content 1955-2008 in light of recently revealed instrumentation problems. Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L07608. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008GL037155

Viktor Gouretski and Franco Reseghetti, 2010: On depth and temperature biases in bathythermograph data: development of a new correction scheme based on analysis of a global ocean database. Deep-Sea Research I, 57, 6. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2010.03.011

Cowley et al, 2013: Biases in Expendable Bathythermograph Data: A New View Based on Historical Side-by-Side Comparisons. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 30, 6. doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00127.1

Cheng et al, 2014: Time, Probe Type, and Temperature Variable Bias Corrections to Historical Expendable Bathythermograph Observations. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 31, 8. doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00197.1

Viktor Gouretski and Lijing Cheng, 2020: Correction for Systematic Errors in the Global Dataset of Temperature Profiles from Mechanical Bathythermographs. Journal of Atmospheric Technology and Oceanic Research, 37, 5. doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0205.1


Download profiles - Levitus et al. (2009) corrections

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
2020s

Download objective analyses - Levitus et al. (2009) corrections

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
2020s

Download profiles - Cowley et al. (2013) XBT corrections and Levitus et al. (2009) MBT corrections.

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
2020s

Download objective analyses - Cowley et al. (2013) XBT corrections and Levitus et al (2009) MBT corrections.

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
2020s

Download profiles - Cheng et al. (2014) XBT corrections and Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections.

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
2020s

Download objective analyses - Cheng et al. (2014) XBT corrections and Gouretski and Cheng (2020) MBT corrections.

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
2020s


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