This page describes and gives options for manipulating the LEVITUS dataset. We start with the options for manipulating, because once you are comfortable with the system, they are the most useful.

Dataset Options

LEVITUS options	Help	Expert Mode
	Data Selection	Data Files	Tables

Help/Terse: switches back and forth between this relatively descriptive page that contains extended explanations, and the page that just has the information.
Expert Mode: switches into a mode that lets you access several datasets at the same time, and enter data-manipulating commands directly as text rather than clicking on a series of pages.
When in Expert Mode there is a list of active datasets at the top of the page, followed by a text window containing the command equivalent of the current page. These commands can be edited or extended.
Views: (the icons that show different views) go to an interactive data viewer that let you view the data with a variety of plot types (including colors and contours), zoom in and out, and select different slices and different variables. You can also save the view in a variety of formats, including as a clickable link in your own html document, as well as extract the data in the view as a table or datafile.
Data Selection: lets you pick out a subset of the full dataset. You should try the interactive data viewer first.
Data Files: lets you download the dataset in your choice of format.
Tables: lets you view the data as a table. A number of formatting options are available.

Note that there will be many more options once you have picked a particular variable, because the server is currently more adept at manipulating single variables than it is at manipulating datasets (e.g. collections of variables).

Dataset Description

We start with a quick reminder of where you are in the collection of datasets.

SOURCES LEVITUS^*

As you go from left to right, the datasets listed get more and more specific, ending with the current dataset, LEVITUS. Datasets with documentation are marked (*): the * links to the documentation directly.

LEVITUS

LEVITUS: Objectively analyzed fields of major ocean parameters at the annual, seasonal, and monthly time scales; Superceded by LEVITUS94.

Documents

give additional information about the current dataset.

outline: shows all the different parts of this dataset (the parts are datasets and variables, see below).
dataset documentation

Datasets and variables

Variables (also called data or dependent variables) are sets of numbers, along with the grids (independent variables) that place those numbers in space and time, and the additional information (such as units) that render the data meaningful. Datasets are collections of variables and datasets. This will become clearer once you look at the outline.

ANNUAL LEVITUS ANNUAL[sal PO4 SIO2 O2SAT temp NO3 O2 ]

Grids

Grids are the independent variables contained in this dataset.

Longitude (longitude)	grid: /X (degree_east) periodic (0.5E) to (0.5W) by 1.0 N= 360 pts :grid
Latitude (latitude)	grid: /Y (degree_north) ordered (89.5S) to (89.5N) by 1.0 N= 180 pts :grid
Depth	grid: /Z (m) ordered [ (0.0) (10.0) (20.0) (30.0) (50.0) (75.0) (100.0) (125.0) (150.0) (200.0) (250.0) (300.0) (400.0) (500.0) (600.0) (700.0) (800.0) (900.0) (1000.0) (1100.0) (1200.0) (1300.0) (1400.0) (1500.0) (1750.0) (2000.0) (2500.0) (3000.0) (3500.0) (4000.0) (4500.0) (5000.0) (5500.0)] :grid

Other Info

iridl:hasSemantics: iridl:NOAA
iridl:Ocean

References

Levitus1982