NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS)

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) uses a Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) [http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/GODAS/] to routinely produce monthly and pentad (5-day) mean global ocean gridded data. The analysis system, that was originally applied only to the tropical Pacific, has evolved to use GFDL MOM v3 model and give near global coverage. Briefly, the model domain specifications are 65N to 75S, 1 degree resolution with 1/3 degree resolution within 10 degree of the equator, 40 levels and 10 meter resolution in the upper 200 meters. These data are a valuable community asset for monitoring different aspects of ocean climate variability. Reference Time series of monthly averages by variable derived from GODAS operational datasets [http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/catalog/ocean/godas_variable.shtml] for monthly averaged data in NetCDF format.