ECMWF Ocean ReAnalysis ORA-S3

Area: Global

Period:  1959-2011

Data available: YES

Model: HOPE
Resolution: Horizontal 1°x1° with equatorial refinement (0.3). 29 vertical levels, about 10m-15m level thickness in upper 200 m.
Data assimilated: Temperature and Salinity profiles from the EN2 database (1959-2006), including XBT, CTD, Argo, Mooring, and from realtime GTS thereafter. Altimeter sea level anomalies maps and trends from AVISO.
Assimilation method: Multivariate OI + Bias correction
Forcing and relaxation used: ER40 (precip corrected) daily fluxes from 1959-2002. ECMWF operational NWP fluxes therefater. SST as in ERA-40 until 1982 and the weekly NOAA oiv2 1x1 from 1982 onwards.
Download Data: OPeNDAP at ICDC, FTP at ICDC, View in LAS at ICDC
Contact: Magdalena Balmaseda, Magdalena.Balmaseda (at) ecmwf.int
References:

• Balmaseda M. A., A. Vidard and D.L.T. Anderson, 2008: The ECMWF Ocean Analysis System: ORA-S3. Mon. Wea. Rev. 136,3018-3034;
• The ECMWF System 3 ocean analysis system, Technical Memorandum (pdf, not barrier-free)