Downloading argo data

Source of data

Most of the data is coming from http://www.usgodae.org/pub/incoming/godae_qc/ and the command I'm using to download the data is:

wget -r -l1 --no-parent -nd -A.nc ⟨directory with data⟩

Seems to work OK (they're might be better way of doing it).

Data is being downloaded to /glusterfs/marine/users/resc/Argo_QC_work

Argo data

I think the data comes from http://www.usgodae.org/pub/outgoing/argo/geo in ⟨ocean⟩_ocean/⟨year⟩/⟨month⟩/

Notes:

• For some the PRES values (not adjusted for real time), the values are -91229998193783603200.0, e.g. pac/20101228_prof.nc. It causes my depth calculation to be inf, until I only calculate depths where the pressure > 0.

BMRC data

Found in bmrc directory from the above site. Has one file per day. Fairly straight forward. Only have data from about June 2010.

Coriolis

There are a number of files in the crls directory below the directory above. However, only three appear to have Argo platform numbers in

• CO_YYYYMMDD_TS_AR_[AIP].nc: only has one level. I believe TS stands for temperature and salinity. Readings don't match the times for argo data - I don't know what this is, but doesn't seem to be relevant.
• CO_YYYYMMDD_PR_PF_[AIP].nc: has multiple levels. The PF seems to stand for langrangian floats - which apparently aren't argos but sound a bit like them.
• CO_YYYYMMDD_PR_TE_[AIP].nc: has multiple levels and seems to have a lot more argo platforms than the files above. TE seems to stand for a tesac profile, which is low resolution profile received from the GTS network.

It seems that the *_PR_PF_* files are a higher resolution version of the *_PR_TE_* files. And, so generally, when data for the *_PR_PF_* files exists, data for the *_PR_TE_* files is dropped. Where possible we should use the *_PR_PF_* files. (For one argo ID of 35 readings, I found 12 readings in the *_PR_PF_* files, 25 readings in the *_PR_TE_* files with at least two replicas in the two types of file.)

The difference between the *_PR_PF_* and the *_PR_TE_* files - which are suppose to be a low resolution profile - seems to be that the *_PR_TE_* files have the depth under sea variables, the *_DEPH_* variables, (PROFILE_DEPH_QC, DEPH, DEPH_QC, DEPH_ADJUSTED, DEPH_ADJUSTED_QC and DEPH_ADJUSTED_ERROR).

The filenames suggest that data for a given day will be found in that file, but this is not reliable - several days will be found in each file.

FNMOC

The only place I can seem to find this data is from the link on http://www.usgodae.org/argo/argo.html for `Browse FNMOC Argo Data Via HTTP', which takes you eventually to http://www.usgodae.org/ftp/outgoing/argo/geo/.

I've download with the command

wget -r -l2 --no-parent -nd -A.nc http://www.usgodae.org/pub/outgoing/argo/geo/atlantic_ocean/2010

MEDS

Found in the meds directory below the URL above. This is ascii data.

Useful links sent by support@argo.net

• http://www.meds-sdmm.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/isdm-gdsi/ocean/formats-eng.htm
• http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/GTSPP/tools/index.html
• http://www.meds-sdmm.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/isdm-gdsi/ocean/software-logiciel-eng.htm#ascii

The filenames suggest that data for a given day will be found in that file, but this is not reliable - several days will be found in each file.

Notes:

• The GF3 codes seem to be at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/GTSPP/document/codetbls/gtsppcode.html. QCF$ is `QC test "Fail" - MEDS'. QCP$ is `QC test "Performed" - MEDS'.

The QC codes:

• 0: no quality control (QC) was performed.
• 1: QC was performed; good data.
• 2: QC was performed; probably good data.
• 3: QC was performed; probablt bad data.
• 4: QC was performed; bad data.
• 5: the value was changed as a result of QC.
• 9: the value is missing

UKMO

Found in ukmo directory from above site. We seem to just need the profile.obs.YYMMDD.nc files. One file per day. The depth is in metres and we potential temperature rather than temperature.

Jim's Cummings data

Data can be downloaded from http://www.usgodae.org/pub/outgoing/godae_qc/ and he has a readme.

Notes:

• Found NaNs in TMP data, e.g. 1900506.2010.nc (I think).

Further data source

Justin Buck has pointed me in the direction of a compressed version of the ftp directories, which seem to contain data from

• AO: Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab
• BO: Australian Bureau of Meteorology
• IF: IFREMER, France (I think this is Coriolis)
• JA: Japanese Meteorologocal Agency
• ME: MEDS

The codes can be found at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/GTSPP/document/codetbls/gtsppcode.html

Size of data

DAC	One uncompressed year	One compressed year
Argo - Atlantic Ocean	4G	100M
Argo - Indian Ocean	3.5G	100M
Argo - Pacific Ocean	10G	250M
BOM	200G	300M
Coriolis	35G	160M
MEDS	2G	200M
Combined data	30G