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Full catalog/ECCO_L4_ANCILLARY_DATA_V4R4
ECCO_L4_ANCILLARY_DATA_V4R4·vV4r4·dataset

Supporting reference data for the ECCO ocean model

ECCO Ancillary Data (Version 4 Release 4)
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 4 Binary
In plain English

What it measures. Supporting reference files that go along with the ECCO ocean model estimate, including documentation, model setup and forcing files, grid files, and the observational data used to constrain the model.

How it's made. Assembled for the ECCO Version 4 Release 4 ocean and sea-ice state estimate, built on the MITgcm model and fit to many satellite and in-water observations.

How & where you'd use it. Aimed at expert users who want to reproduce or dig into the ECCO ocean state estimate; not a standalone Earth measurement but a behind-the-scenes resource for the model.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN CIRCULATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1992-01-01 → 2018-01-01
  • Measured byMODELS · MITgcm
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsBinary
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

This dataset provides ancillary data for the ECCO Version 4 Release 4 (V4r4) ocean and sea-ice state estimate, and is intended for expert users to reproduce the state estimate. The ancillary data include documentation files, files required to initialize the model, forcing fields, binary input grid files, observational data used to constrain the model, model equivalent of observed profiles, files related to atmospheric flux-forced experiments, and some script files. Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) state estimates are dynamically and kinematically-consistent reconstructions of the three-dimensional, time-evolving ocean, sea-ice, and surface atmospheric states. ECCO V4r4 is a free-running solution of a global, nominally 1-degree configuration of the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) that has been fit to observations in a least-squares sense. Observational data constraints used in V4r4 include sea surface height (SSH) from satellite altimeters [ERS-1/2, TOPEX/Poseidon, GFO, ENVISAT, Jason-1,2,3, CryoSat-2, and SARAL/AltiKa]; sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite radiometers [AVHRR], sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Aquarius satellite radiometer/scatterometer, ocean bottom pressure (OBP) from the GRACE satellite gravimeter; sea ice concentration from satellite radiometers [SSM/I and SSMIS], and in-situ ocean temperature and salinity measured with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors and expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) from several programs [e.g., WOCE, GO-SHIP, Argo, and others] and platforms [e.g., research vessels, gliders, moorings, ice-tethered profilers, and instrumented pinnipeds].

Get the data

ecco_l4_ancillary_data_v4r4_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ECCO_L4_ANCILLARY_DATA_V4R4",
    version="V4r4",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.