Arctic Ocean and Climate Atlas (1950-1989)

This CD-ROM atlas contains statistics of 45 years of summer (July through September) temperature and salinity data. All temperatures in this atlas are shown as potential temperatures. Salinities are reported in standard salinity units. Densities are reported as potential density. Minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, 1st quartile, median, and 3rd quartile of the temperature and salinity data were calculated for each decade in the data set and over each 200 km by 200 km grid cell within the central Arctic region. In the Nordic and Siberian Seas, the statistics were calculated over 50 km by 50 km cells, as well as 100 km by 100 km cells, due to the smaller spatial scales in this region. These statistics were compiled for depths (in meters below the ocean surface) of 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 750, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, and 4000. The ocean bottom bathymetry was defined using the National Geophysical Data Center ETOPO5 digital data set. The decadal periods are: 1950-1959, 1960-1969, 1970-1979, 1980-1989. The number of original data points used to calculate the statistics are recorded for each location and a planar fit to the data, at each depth, was also generated to indicate linear trends within each cell. The three coefficients of the planar fit and the root-mean-square error of the fit are also recorded in the atlas. It was agreed to publish these statistics because most of the Russian original data could not be released. The CD-ROM atlas also contains a complete set of statistics for the periods, June, October and November. Statistics for December through May are available in the atlas for the winter period.