GOXBT: A high-resolution boundary current product from Gridded Observations of eXpendable BathyThermograph (XBT) transects

This dataset is the partner dataset to the submitted publication: A high-resolution boundary current product from Gridded Observations of eXpendable BathyThermograph (XBT) transects Marlos Goes, Shenfu Dong, Rebecca Cowley, Yuri Cotroneo, Janet Sprintall, Mauro Cirano, Antonino Ferola, Tayanne Ferreira, Werner Barros, Zhetao Tan, Giuseppe Aulicino, Ken Ridgway, Justine Parks, Jared Brzenski, Gael Forget, Claudia Fratianni The Ship Of Opportunity Expendable BathyThermograph (SOOP-XBT) Network has been measuring upper ocean temperature aboard volunteer vessels over multiple decades in key locations of the global ocean. Through international collaboration, these data are systematically collected, quality-controlled and made available to the scientific and operational communities. The network’s strengths: its low cost, high spatial resolution, and long-term repeatability, have made it a key asset for advancing ocean state estimation and climate studies. Here, we introduce a synthesis of formatted XBT data from selected transects across the global ocean, and provide a high-quality gridded product of temperature and derived salinity and absolute geostrophic velocity across five major boundary currents: the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, East Australian Current, Brazil Current and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The Gridded Observations of XBT transects (GOXBT) product offers a unique temporal coverage and spatial resolution, providing a critical resource for ocean model and reanalysis validation, and supporting future studies on the variability and dynamics of major ocean currents.