Data
One of the main tasks of OceanHeatFlux project is to assemble a large set of flux related data, including existing flux data collections, relevant inputs for flux calculation and validation data. A significant effort is also dedicated to the homogenization of these data to ease their combination and intercomparison.
This section summarizes the type and list of datasets assembled by OHF project.
A complete online detailed product catalogue and how to access the data is described on this page.
Reference flux dataset
The reference dataset includes the major existing collections of turbulent flux estimation. They have been homogenized so they are now all converted into the same format and conventions (NetCDF), and provided on the same spatial (1/4 degree) and temporal (daily) resolution, over the same 1999-2009 period.
The list of collected data and the applied standardization method (and impact on the product properties) is summarized in the OHF product handbook. The following table summarizes the available standardized products.
Flux product | Source | Version |
IFREMER | IFREMER | v4 |
HOAPS | SAF CM | v2 |
SeaFLUX | WHOI | Feb 2012 |
OAFlux | WHOI | Oct 2009 |
CFSR | NCEP NCARUCAR | |
MERRA | NASA | |
J-OFURO | Univ. Tokai | v1.5.2 |
ERA Interim | ECMWF |
Each dataset includes the latent and sensible heat flux fields but also the bulk quantities (wind, sea surface temperature, air humidity,...) used for the calculation of these fluxes. Their origin (sensor, product, etc...) is described in the product handbook.
More details on the used source and how they have been homogenized can be found in the following online spreadsheet.
Details of the version of the Reference turbulent heat flux collection
Version | Date | Description |
v0.1 | 16/01/2015 | Creation of the collection. tested on oaflux first, see presentation of Paris meeting (January 2015) |
v0.2 | 03/03/2015 | Modify the spatial resolution to have a quarter degree grid |
v0.3 | 15/04/2015 | Create only one file per day containing all available parameters (such as ifremer source dataset) |
v0.4 | 28/04/2015 | Make possible conversion of HOAPS having 6-hourly time resolution |
v0.5 | 11/06/2015 | Homogeneize variables names, global attributes and units |
v0.6 | 27/08/2015 | Make humidity parameters units all g/kg |
v0.7 | 02/12/2015 | Change the landmask to Odyssea 0.1x0.1 (reprojected 0.25) delete filter on 70 -70 lat, apply mask also for standardize_sep() method, filter latent flux >1200W/m2 <-30W/m2 and sensible fluxes >800 <-100 |
Input data
A large set of different datasets for each key quantity needed to estimate turbulent fluxes is also collected by the project, either for assessment of their impact on the final flux calculation or to compute a new "best estimate" of these fluxes. The collected physical quantities used for turbulent fluxes calculation include:
- Wind stress
- Humidity
- Sea Surface Temperature
- Air Temperature
- Pressure
- Ocean State
- Ocean Colour
- Surface Current
- Rain
- Waves
The sources of observation available for each quantity include satellite and in situ observations or climatologies, and numerical model outputs. The detailed list of relevant products we have identified is detailed in this online spreadsheet.
Validation data
The OHF project also puts an emphasis on the collection of all available sources of in situ measurements for the validation of fluxes. The collected sources are also listed in the online spreadsheet or on the online catalogue.
