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Full catalog/OMG_L2_CTD
OMG_L2_CTD·v1·dataset

Ocean temperature and saltiness by depth (Greenland)

OMG Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) Profiles
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. In-water measurements of the ocean around Greenland — salinity (saltiness), density, temperature and the speed of sound — recorded from the surface down through the water column.

How it's made. Collected by lowering or towing CTD instrument packages from a ship, not from a satellite, as part of NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland project.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists understand how warm, salty ocean water reaches and melts Greenland's glaciers, a key driver of sea-level rise.

What's measured

OCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › SALINITYOCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › TEMPERATURE PROFILESOCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › DENSITYOCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › CONDUCTIVITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2015-07-25 → 2020-08-23
  • Measured byInSitu (CTD)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-74.576, 60.351, 53.406, 79.841
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • 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 contains in situ measurements from Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) casts and tows. It provides salinity, density, temperature and sound velocity of the water column. The CTDs were deployed from a ship either as single profile casts or towed yo-yo behind the ship to measure the physical properties of the water. This provided measurements of the ocean's physical characteristics around Greenland. The CTDs are part of the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project. The goal of the project is to find out what contributions the ocean has on Greenland's melting glaciers.

Get the data

omg_l2_ctd_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OMG_L2_CTD",
    version="1",
    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.