CORA dataset

CORA3.2 2010 July Sea Surface Temperature

CORA (standing for Coriolis Ocean database ReAnalysis) is a global oceanographic temperature and salinity dataset produced and maintained by the French institute IFREMER. Most of those data are real-time data coming from different types of platforms such as research vessels, profilers, underwater gliders, drifting buoys, moored buoys, sea mammals and ships of opportunity.

Description

This in-situ dataset produced by the French institute Ifremer in the framework of the European project MyOcean and French project CORIOLIS is a picture of the content of the operational oceanographic database CORIOLIS. This database is the main tool of Coriolis project which is a global data assembly center of in situ data: such as US-GODAE centre of Monterey in California. The latest version of CORA product is v5.0, it covers the years 1950 up to 2015 and has been released in April 2017. Observations are profiles distributed on measured levels (pressure or depth) and organized by dates of measurement and type of platform. Main users of CORA dataset are ocean modelers who needs to constraint and initialize their model. CORA[1] is free of access and can be download via CORIOLIS website[2] in netCDF file format. The main different of CORA dataset with other available datasets is that CORA provides data at depth levels where measurements were made rather than at standard levels such as in World Ocean Atlas or ENACT3. In addition data in CORA are retrieved from Coriolis database where each profile is visually checked by specialist operators if suspicious.

Validation procedure

Validation in database

  • duplicate observation check
  • automatic checks (spikes, climatology, monotonic depth, valid date/position,...)
  • objective analysis (ISAS software with 21 days, 300 km covariance ray): suspicious observations are visualized by an operator

Validation post extraction

  • second duplicate observation check (detection and choice parameters tuned)
  • refined climatological test
  • XBT depth correction[3]
  • second objective analysis with tuned parameters: anomalies are visualized
  • ARGO special diagnostics

Data sources

The CORA dataset is designed for operational oceanography, so most global real time monitoring networks are plugged into this database. The data sources are the following:

Versions

official versions of CORA product
Date of release Time span Comments
CORA1.0 2007 2002-2006 Beta version of the dataset, full years extracted
CORA2.2 2009 1990-2008 Add of validation procedures (climatological checks) and gridding of the data
CORA3.1 2010 1990-2009 Full years updated + 2009 added
CORA3.2 2011 1990-2010 Add of validation procedures (duplicate check, XBT depth correction) integration of sea mammals data, automatisation of the update procedure
CORA3.3 2012 1990-2011 Article[6] submitted to Ocean Science review, add of year 2011, completion of anomalies feedback from objective analysis towards CORA dataset and Coriolis database.
CORA3.4 2013 1990-2011 New ICES CTD data added
CORA4.0 2014 1990-2012 Update of profiles and addition of Time series from drifters, ferrybox, profilers.
CORA4.1 2015 1950-1989 (Extraction from EN4), 1990-2013 Addition of TSG data, delayed mode sea mammals and surface drifters + Integration of XBT and CTD from EN4
CORA4.2 2016 1950-1989 (Extraction from EN4), 1990-2014 Inclusion of 2,4 million profiles from the SHOM (Service Hydrographique de la Marine), mostly of XBTs CTDs and MBTs from 1950 to 2009
CORA5.0 2017 1950-2015

References

  1. ^ http://www.coriolis.eu.org/content/download/10987/73170/file/CORA3_UserManual.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ "Data and Products - Coriolis : In situ data for operational oceanography". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2012-09-26. official website of CORIOLIS project
  3. ^ Hamon, M.; Reverdin, G.; Le Traon, P.-Y. (2012). "Empirical Correction of XBT Data". Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 29 (7): 960–973. Bibcode:2012JAtOT..29..960H. doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00129.1.
  4. ^ "Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array".
  5. ^ http://www.gosud.org/ GOSUD Website>
  6. ^ Cabanes, C.; Grouazel, A.; von Schuckmann, K.; Hamon, M.; Turpin, V.; Coatanoan, C.; Paris, F.; Guinehut, S.; Boone, C.; Ferry, N.; De Boyer Montégut, C.; Carval, T.; Reverdin, G.; Pouliquen, S.; Le Traon, P.-Y. (2013). "The CORA dataset: validation and diagnostics of in-situ ocean temperature and salinity measurements". Ocean Science. 9 (1): 1–18. Bibcode:2013OcSci...9....1C. doi:10.5194/os-9-1-2013.