A digital upper ocean temperature atlas for the southwest Pacific: 1955-1988

A digital atlas of southwest Pacific upper ocean temperatures (DASPOT) is n ow available for the period between 1955 and 1988. This atlas consists of t hree uniformly-gridded datasets. The first two datasets are three-monthly ( January, April, July and October) temperature time series over two depth ra nges. The third is a temperature climatology for this 34-year period. These three datasets are interpolated to a 2 degrees x 2 degrees horizontal grid , with a 5 m vertical spacing to a maximum depth of 450 m. The datasets wer e generated from most of the available bathythermograph casts collected bet ween 0 degrees-50 degrees S, 140-180 degrees E using a combination of empir ical orthogonal function analysis and objective mapping. The first temperature time series covers the 34-year period, 1955-1988, fro m the surface to a depth of 100 m. The second time series is for the shorte r period from 1973-1988, but extending to a depth of 450 m. The climatologi cal dataset describes the annual cycle to a depth of 450 m for each calenda r month. Objective estimates of the a posteriori' (mapping) error have been calculated in the objective mapping procedure, and are provided with each gridded temperature estimate. Analysis of the temperature anomalies from th is atlas has shown it to be suitable for large scale studies of interannual climate variability and ocean dynamics.