JOINT ARCHIVE FOR SEA
LEVEL
DATA REPORT: May 2009
By
Mr. Patrick C. Caldwell
National Coastal
National Oceanographic
World Data Center-Silver Spring, Oceanography,
National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Manager, Joint Archive for Sea Level
and
Dr. Mark A. Merrifield
and Technology,
Joint Institute for Marine and
Atmospheric Research, and
University of
JIMAR CONTRIBUTION NO. 09-369
DATA REPORT NO. 21
Abstract
The Joint
Archive for Sea Level (JASL) is a collaboration between the University of
Hawaii Sea Level Center (UHSLC) and the World Data Center-Silver Spring (WDC-SS)
for Oceanography, which is co-located at the US National Oceanographic Data
Center. The JASL is based at the UHSLC
and grew out of the need for data management support of the Tropical Ocean
Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Sea Level Center, founded by Dr. Klaus Wyrtki in 1985 at
the
Contents
Page
1 HISTORY
1
2 DATA
HOLDINGS MAY 2009 3
3
DATA REQUESTS 8
3.1 Anonymous FTP
3.2 World Wide Web
3.3 Sea Level CDROM
3.4 Direct Requests
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10
REFERENCES 11
APPENDICES 12
A
STATION LISTS 12
A.1 2009 Submission to the
A.2 New Series
A.3. Updated Series
A.4. Series Extended Backwards
A.5. Series with 2007 Data
A.6. Replaced Years within Series
A.7. GLOSS Inventory May 2009
B
ORIGINATORS 44
1 HISTORY
Over the past
few decades, the scientific community has become increasingly interested in the
predictability of climate. Consequently,
the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) was created by the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
with the objective to determine the extent of climate predictability and of
man's influence on climate.
A key
activity of the WCRP in the 1980s was the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere
(TOGA) Project, which was organized with the joint support of the ICSU's
Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. A major component of the plan was to monitor
the global atmosphere and the upper layers of the three tropical oceans during
the ten-year period of 1985-1994. Existing meteorological and oceanographic
observation systems were maintained and new networks were installed. These observations along with available
historical data have provided a description of the ocean-climate system and its
variability from sub-seasonal to inter-annual scales and have served as the
basis for studies of oceanic and atmospheric dynamics and for model input and
verification. A
secondary goal was to encourage the
continuation of an indefinite observational oceanic and atmospheric monitoring
system.
An important
parameter of the ocean monitoring system is sea level. The TOGA program required daily sea level
values with an accuracy of 2 cm. Sea
level measurements have been made throughout the world by various national
agencies, local ports authorities, and research organizations, but a
centralized archive of daily data did not exist. In order to concentrate the efforts of
acquiring, processing, and archiving the sea level data, the
The UH
pursued the duel responsibilities of maintaining a large sea level network and
serving as a scientific data center. In
the late 1980s, the UH increased the number of sites in the Pacific and
expanded into the
The UHSLC
presently operates the Joint WMO/IOC Commission for Oceanography and Marine
Meteorology (JCOMM) Sea Level Program in the Pacific and the GLOSS `Fast-Delivery'
As the
quantity of data collected by the TOGA SLC increased during the mid 1980s,
assistance with data management was provided by the United States (US) National
Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), co-located with the World Data Center-Silver
Spring (WDC-SS) for Oceanography, with the
establishment in 1987 of the Joint Archive for Sea Level (JASL) at the UH. The JASL supplements the UHSLC with
acquisition, quality review, data documentation, and archival of sea level
values from contributing agencies. The
proximity of JASL staff to the sea level experts at UH ensures a research data
set of the highest quality, while the NODC lends its skills in data management
to aid in timely turnaround of concise, standardized, well-documented data to
the scientific community. The JASL is
the primary avenue of acquisition of validated data sets and annually requests
data contributions from agencies around the globe. The JASL promotes the creation of high quality
data sets by offering a sea level processing package (
The first
seven years of the TOGA SLC were dedicated to collection of data from the
Pacific and
operate and most of the collaborative
agencies continue to provide sea level data on a regular basis. Over the past decade, the JASL has requested
finalized, quality-controlled hourly data from agencies which maintain gauges
at oceanographically important high latitude sites, such as those of the WOCE,
CLIVAR, or GLOSS networks. Many of these
sites have served as ground truth stations for the joint US/France
TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetry program (Mitchum, 1994) and continue to serve on
follow-up altimeter missions. The JASL has also focused attention on data
rescue by obtaining paper records, overseeing the digitization, and performing
quality control (
This data
report describes the present data holdings at the JASL and highlights new and
updated series. Methods of acquisition, quality control, and assessment have
been documented (Caldwell and Kilonsky, 1992; Kilonsky and Caldwell, 1991) and
will not be elaborated upon in this text.
Figure 1. As of May 2009, 587 series have been
contributed to the JASL from over 60 agencies representing over 70 countries.
The symbols note the May 2009 status relative to May 2007.
2 DATA HOLDINGS MAY 2009
The JASL
prepares scientifically valid data sets of hourly, daily, and monthly values
which are submitted annually to international data banks and are made readily
available in a more timely fashion through the Internet. As of May 2009, 587
series with 12,713 series-years (Appendix A.1) of quality-assured data have
been submitted to the WDC-SS, US NODC, the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level
(PSMSL), and the CLIVAR `Delayed-Mode'
Center (BODC).
Over the past
year, 24 new series with 387 series-years (Appendix A.2) have been added to the
JASL. The locations are depicted as blue
triangles in Figure 1. New series were
made available in Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Japan,
Mexico, New Zealand (Antarctica), South Africa, Sweden, USA, and Vietnam.
Figure 2. Cumulative site-years by ocean depicting
growth of the data holdings. The total
holdings have increased by 1,253 site-years relative to 2007.
Several
unique sites have multiple independent series due to reference levels that have
not been linked from one time span to the next. In several cases, a series was
broken into multiple segments at the point of a reference level shift. For the
given site, if new time span(s) that were not linked to the reference level of
the existing series were added, then a separate series was established. The
filename of each site with multiple series is appended by letters and the
filenames are ordered chronologically (i.e. the earliest data is version A,
e.g.
extended backwards and the new span is not
linked to the same reference level.
Over the past
year, the JASL updated 185 existing series with 866 site-years (Figure 1 and
Appendix A.3), which includes 255 site-years extended backwards (Appendix A.4)
for 14 series. Pursuit of data rescue
continues at the JASL (
In support of
the GLOSS, which presently consists of 290 Core Network stations, the JASL
added 3 sites since 2007 bringing the total number of unique GLOSS locations in
the JASL to 226, or 78% of the total. The
new sites are
Of the 171
stations identified in the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the JASL
presently holds 143 sites, or 84%. The abundance of data is possible through the generous
contributions of over 60 agencies representing over 70 countries (Appendix B).
Figure 3. Distribution of
site-years by latitude and growth relative to May 2007.
The
meridional distribution of the data holdings is shown in Figure 3 which depicts
the highest concentration of sites in the northern hemisphere. Since 2007,
updates were made in most latitudinal zones. Historically the holdings at the
JASL focused on the tropics and subtropics as a reflection of the TOGA program.
Since 1995, holdings at high latitude
stations have steadily increased as WOCE stations were received, GLOSS sites
were sought, and NOAA-NOS continental locations were acquired. Since 2007, new sites from mid to high
latitude locations have been added from
The spatial
distribution by site of the series lengths is depicted in Figure 4. This shows
the excellent space and time coverage of the tropical Pacific, the Japanese and
Chinese coasts, selected sites in South, Central, and North America, and
Figure 4. Lengths of the time
series as of May 2009. The size of the circle represents the length of the
series. The majority of the record lengths are between 5 and 15 years.
Figure 5. Lengths (years) of the
time series. A majority of the record lengths are less than 30 years long;
however, 137 series have record length greater than 30 years, while 47 series
have length greater than 60 years.
The series
are of variable length (Figure 4) with the greatest concentration between 5 to
15 years (Figure 5). However, the number of series with records longer than 30
years has expanded to 137, while 41 sites have series greater than 60 years, up
from 31 as of 2007. Most of the longest series are from the NOAA-NOS
continental
The temporal
coverage of the sea level records is depicted well in Figure 6. This shows the
dominance of data availability starting in the 1980s, mostly a reflection of
the TOGA program. The WOCE, CLIVAR, and GLOSS programs have supported continued
international data exchange into the 1990s. The figure also shows the typical
time lag from collection to public dissemination, which is on the order of a
few years.
Existing
years in the JASL archive have also been replaced since 2007 when
necessary. A summary of actions is given
in Appendix A.7. The largest replacement
was made by the South Africa Navy Hydrographic Office. Historic series were re-calibrated and linked
to a single datum for the full time span.
The
Figure 6. Data distribution by
year and ocean.
3 DATA REQUESTS
The archive
is presently composed of 587 sites for 12,713 site-years with hourly, daily,
and monthly values. The success of the sea level archive is possible through
the generous contributions of many data collecting agencies around the globe.
On a quasi-annual basis, the data sets and documentation files are submitted to
international data centers (WDC-SS, PSMSL, and BODC). Data can be acquired from these centers or
directly from the JASL. Over the most
recent year, the JASL served 8,114 requests consisting of 1,491,205
series-years for 72,200 series through anonymous and hands-on transfers.
The JASL data
are available in a legacy ASCII text format.
A format description is given with each data request and is not repeated
here. Software is available as described
below for translating the format to a more generic “date time single-value”
format, which is compatible with many common software tools. Most JASL data are also available in NetCDF
format via the UHSLC Fast-delivery system as explained below.
3.1 World Wide Web
UHSLC has
maintained an Internet site since 1994. Users
can navigate via lists or through an in-house developed geographical
information system. The URL for this
site is:
http://uhslc.soest.hawaii.edu
There
are three modes of data availability:
1) Real-time data for stations operated by the UHSLC, at the highest available
frequency, most often one-minute samples.
2) Fast-delivery (FD) with
preliminary calibration and quality control, typically with a one-month lag
from collection, for hourly, daily, and monthly values. Products such as global sea level deviations
and anomalies, Pacific tropical current or upper ocean volume indices, or
blended global output from altimetry, are generated monthly.
3) Research quality (JASL) are the verified hourly, daily, and monthly data saved for
posterity.
As JASL data become available, the FD set is updated to match
the JASL holdings for version control; thus the FD set is inclusive of the JASL
set, except for select series in the JASL yet not in the FD. The FD set is also provided through a DODS
(OpenDAP) server: http://uhslc1.soest.hawaii.edu/uhslc/fast.html.
3.2 Anonymous FTP
The JASL has
hourly, daily, monthly values in an ``anonymous'' FTP account.
For those on Internet, the account may be
accessed by typing:
ftp://ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu/rqds
or directly following these instructions:
ftp
ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu
user: anonymous
password: please enter your Internet address
cd
rqds
Once you have
successfully logged on, please see the README file for information and
instructions. The ASCII data files in the JASL final archive format are within
a subdirectory named ``rqds'' and are organized by ocean. This FTP account
contains the most recent holdings of the JASL data set for series that have
been quality controlled and documented. The hourly, daily, monthly, document and
inventory files are updated a few times a year as new sets are added to the
JASL.
The hourly
data files are grouped by year, then compressed using Info-Zip into a single
file per time series. The Info-Zip web site is at
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip and the software can be directly downloaded
from ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/. This freeware zip utility is compatible
to most platforms and operating systems.
Software for
converting from the JASL legacy format to a generic format can be found at this
FTP site in directory /software. There
are versions for linux, MSDOS, and Sun (Solaris) operating systems. For each, programs are available for the
hourly, daily, and monthly values.
3.3 Sea Level CDROM
A CDROM was prepared by the JASL in
May 2009 to facilitate data dissemination.
It contains data and this report.
The complete archive of hourly, daily, and monthly values is
included. Requests for a copy can be
sent directly to the JASL.
3.4 Direct Requests
Requests by
phone, email, or mail can be sent to either
Joint
Archive for Sea Level
Dept. of Oceanography
phone: 808-956-4105
fax: 808-956-2352
email: caldwell@hawaii.edu or Patrick.Caldwell@noaa.gov
WWW: http://ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu/jasl.html
or
The
World Data Center-SS for Oceanography
c/o
NOAA/NESDIS/NODC
User Services E/OC1
SSMC3, 4th Floor
phone: 301-713-3277 or -3278
fax: 301-713-3302
email: services@nodc.noaa.gov
WWW: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov
Some stations may have unresolved problems.
These data are retained at the UH Sea Level Center and may be obtained on a
case-by-case basis. Questions concerning the data and preparation should be
directed to the JASL.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are deeply
appreciative to the technicians, tide station operators, digitizers, data
processors, coordinators, principle investigators, data managers, division
chiefs, and directors of the many agencies who have made possible the
collection and processing of the raw data and the contribution of the finalized
data to the Joint Archive for Sea Level. The UHSLC support of this report and
the WDC-SS posterity archive is funded by NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA17RJ1230. The views expressed herein are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of NOAA or any of its
sub-agencies.
REFERENCES
Caldwell, P., and B. Kilonsky, 1992. Data processing and quality control at the
Caldwell, P. 2003. NOAA support
for global sea level data rescue. Earth
System Monitor, Vol. 14, No. 1, Fall 2003.
pp. 1-5.
Jay, David A., 2009. Evolution of tidal amplitudes in the eastern
Levitus,
S., R. Gelfeld, M. E. Conkright, T. P. Boyer, D. Johnson, T. O?Brien, C. Stephens, C. Forgy, O. Baranova, I. Smolyar,
G. Trammell, R. Moffatt, 2000: Results
of the NODC and IOC Data Archaeology and Rescue projects. Key to Oceanographic
Records Documentation No. 19,
Kilonsky, B. J. and P. Caldwell, 1991. In pursuit of high- quality sea level data.
IEEE Oceans Proceedings. Vol. 2, October 1-3, 1991.
Mitchum, G. T., 1994. Comparison of TOPEX sea surface heights and tide gauge sea levels.
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 99, No. C12, pp. 24541-24553.
UNESCO, 1993. IOC Training Course for the
UNESCO, 1995. IOC/GLOSS-GOOS Training Workshop on Sea-Level Data Analysis. Geodetic
and Research Branch, Survey of
APPENDICES
A. Station Lists
A.1 2009 Submission to the
Pacific
continued
Pacific
continued
Pacific
continued
Pacific
continued
Pacific
continued
Pacific
continued
A.2 New Series Relative to May 2007:
Status May
2009
Appendix A.2 continued
A.3 Series with Updated Years
(relative
to May 2007)
Appendix A.3 continued
Appendix A.3 continued
Appendix A.3 continued
Appendix A.3 continued
A.4 Series Extended Backwards
A.5 Series with
Year 2007
Appendix A.5 continued
Appendix A.5 continued
Appendix A.5 continued
Appendix A.5 continued
A.6 GLOSS Inventory: Status May 2009
GLOSS continued
GLOSS continued
GLOSS continued
GLOSS continued
GLOSS continued
GLOSS continued
A.7 Replaced Years within Existing Series
B ORIGINATORS
Hourly sea level heights have generously been provided to the Joint
Archive for Sea Level from over 60 agencies representing over 70
countries. These agencies are shown below.
All Russian Research Institute of
Hydrometeorological Information -
World Data Centre
6,
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
BAKOSURTANAL,
J. Raya Jakarta - Borog Km 46
Transport Authority (BIWTA)
Dept. of Hydrography
141-143, Motijheel C/A
Center for Ocean. Research and Dev.
J.
Central Weather Bureau
64 Kung Yuan,
REPUBLIC OF
Centre National De
Recherches Oceanographiques
BP: 68 (207) Nosy Be
Centro de Investigacion Cientifica
y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada
Av. Espinoza No. 843
APDO. Postal 2732
Commission of Lands and Environment
CSIRO
Division of Oceanography
GPO
Dept. of Meteorology
Male
Dept. of Survey and Mapping
Jalan Gurney
50578
Direccion Hidrografia y Navegacion
de la Marina
Camarra 500 Chuculto
Casilla Postal 80
Director of Meteorology CIVAIR
SULTANATE OF
Directorate of Civil Avaition
Directorate of Hydrography
Maritime Headquarters
Private Bag Retreat 7965
Directoria de Hidrografia e Navegacao
Rua Barao de Jaceguai, S/N 24040
Ponta de Armacao
RJ,
Government of
Coastal Conservation Project Unit
Oistins Government Complex, Oistins
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
5600
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS)
Bidston
Observatory,
Merseyside L43 7RA
Instituto Colombiano de Hidrologia,
Meteorologia, y Adecuacion de Tierras
Ministerio de Agricultura
Instituto Cubano De Hidrografia
Seccion de Mareas
3ra. y 4.
Ciudad Habana
Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia
C/ Corazon de Maria, No. 8 - 1
28002
Instituto Geografico Nacional
Apartado 5267
Instituto Hidrografico Marinha
Rua das Trinas
49-P-1296 Lisboa Codex
Instituto Nacional De Hidrografia
Av. Karl Marx No 153
Caixa Postal 2089
Instituto Oceanografico de la Armada
Casilla Postal 5940
Telex 3316 INOCAR-ED
Instituto Oceanografico de Venezuela
Universidad de Oriente
Apartado Postal 245
Instituto Oceanografo-USP
Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)
Cidade Universitaria, CEP 05508
LPAO/INPE Oceanografia
Av. Dos Astronautas 1758
1-3-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku
5-3-1 Tukiji, Chuo-ku
Land Information
Lambton House
160 Lamton Quay
Lanka Hydraulic Institute, LTD.
Ministry of Public Works and Labour
Male
No. 4 Dang Thai Than Street
Meteorological Services
Meteo-France
Direction Interregionale Antilles-Guyane
B.P. 645, 97262
Meteological Office
Betio,
Meteorology Station
Addu Development Authority
Gan
National
Chistchurch
National Aquatic Resources Agency
Colombo-15
SSMC4, Station 7109
National Tidal Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Kent Town 5071
Naval Hydrographic Dept.
Royal Thai Navy
Naval Oceanographic Command Detachment
F. P. O. San Fransisco, CA 96885-2905
NOAA/PMEL
Oceanographic Surveys Division
NAMRIA, Binondo Branch
ORSTOM
LOP Museum
43-45 rue Cuvier
75231
Pakistan National Inst. of Oceanography
37 K. Block 6 P.E.C.H.S.
Engineering Division
Unit 2300
Autoridad
Seccion de Meteorologia e Hidrologia
Division de Ingenieria
7B
Tanjong Pagar Complex
PRC National
Oceanographic
118,
District
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC
OF
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
Bidston
Observatory,
Merseyside L43 7RA
Puertos del Estado
Departamento de Clima Maritimo
Avda. del Partenon, 10
28042
Royal
Hydrographic Office
Takapuna,
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Secretaria Marina
06700
Secretaria de Marina, Armada de Mexico
Depart. de Procesamiento y Analisis Mareografico
Coyoacan, D.F.
SERMAR, Instituto Meteorologico Nacional
Apartado 7-3350
Service Hydrographique Et Oceanographique
De La Marine
Establissement Principal
B.P. 426 -29275
Servicio Hidrografico y
Oceanografico de la Armada (SHOA)
Casilla 324
Servicio Mareografico Nacional
Instituto de Geofisica
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
04510
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrographical Institute
SE-601 76
Trinadad/Tobago Hydrographic Unit
Port-of-Spain
Survey Directorate
Ministry of
Housing,
Weather Service Office
Weather Service Office
Weather Service Office
Weather Service Office
Pohnpei 96941-0069
Volcanological Observatory
Rabaul
PAPUA NEW
Meteorological Office
Laboratorie de Geophysique
BP 640
ORSTROM
BP A5,
Private Mail Bag
Vaiaku,
Commonwealth Ports Authority
Institute Mechanique de Grenoble
Domaine Universitaire
B.P. No. 53X
38041
Marine Environmental Data Service
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Royal Danish Administration of
Navigation and Hydrography
Overgaden o.Vandet 62B
Postboks 1919, DK-1023
Copenhagen-K,
Transport Engineering Design Incorporation
No. 4 Dang Thai Than Street
Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia y Hidrologia
7A Avenida 14-57 Zona 13
Alfred-Wegener-Institut fur Polar- und Meeres.
Postfach 120161
D-27515
Centro Nacional de Registros
Instituto Geografico Nacional
1a Calle Poniente y 43a Av. Nte. 2310
Apartado postal 247
Postholf 7120, 127
Université de La Rochelle
CLDG/SONEL - Centre Littoral de Géophysique
Avenue Michel Crépeau
F-17042
Servicio de Hidrografia Naval
Avda.
Montes De Oca 2124
C.P. 1271
Bundesanstatt
fur Gewasserkunde
Postfach 200253
D-56068
Dr.
James Murphy Hydraulics and Maritime
Youngline Bldg.
Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food
Engineering Division