ECMWF Ocean Re-Analysis Disclaimer

The archive contains data from the ECMWF operational Ocean Re-Analysis System 3 (ORA-S3), used to provide ocean initial conditions to the operations seasonal forecasting system. Although the operational reanalysis is continuously brought up-to-date on a daily basis, the data in this archive spans the finite period 1959-2006. We encourage users of ERA-S3 to follow these links for more information and for a selection of graphical products.

When using these data, please cite:

Balmaseda, M.A., A. Vidard and D.L.T. Anderson, 2008: The ECMWF ocean analysis system ORA-S3. To appear in Mon. Wea. Rev.

Balmaseda, M.A., A. Vidard and D.L.T. Anderson, 2007: The ECMWF System 3 ocean analysis system. ECMWF Technical memorandum No. 508.

Notes

1. The sea level should not be used to compute global sea level variations before 1993, since without the information of altimeter data the global sea level is kept constant in the analysis.
2. The variability in the salinity field is strongly affected by changes in the observing system (especially the introduction of Argo), and by initial drifts.
3. The subsurface data used in the ORA-S3 comes from the ENACT/ENSEMBLES version 2 for the period 1959-2004 and from the GTS thereafter.

Related Publications

Balmaseda, M.A., D.P. Dee, A.P. Vidard and D.L.T. Anderson, 2007: A multivariate treatment of bias for sequential data assimilation: Application to the Tropical Oceans. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 133, 167-179.

Balmaseda, M., D. Anderson and A. Vidard, 2007: Impact of Argo on analyses of the global ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16605, doi:10.1029/2007GL030452.

Balmaseda, M.A., G. C. Smith, K. Haines, D. Anderson, T. N. Palmer and A. Vidard (2007), Historical reconstruction of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation from the ECMWF operational ocean reanalysis, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L23615, doi:10.1029/2007GL031645.

Balmaseda, M.A., D.L.T. Anderson, A. and F. Molteni, 2007: Climate variability for the ECMWF System 3 ocean reanalysis. ECMWF Newsletter No 113.

Vidard A., M.A. Balmaseda and D.L.T. Anderson, 2008: The use of altimeter data in the ECMWF ocean analysis. ECMWF Technical Memorandum.