WOCE Atlas Series

The "classic" legacy of oceanographic expeditions has been the publication of atlases of the data. For many people these atlases define what the ocean looks like and how it behaves. Now we have WOCE, the largest oceanographic expedition ever mounted. In comparison to earlier efforts, WOCE has a broader scope, greatly increased horizontal and vertical sampling density, improved accuracy and precision and a greater abundance of properties sampled. It is unlikely that such a set of data will be bettered or even repeated soon. We are therefore producing a series of four atlases, concentrating respectively on the hydrography of the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Southern Oceans. The volumes each have three main components: Full-depth sections, horizontal maps of properties on density surfaces and depth levels, and property-property plots (see the sample plots section). The vertical sections feature potential temperature, salinity, potential density, neutral density, oxygen, nitrate, phosphate, silicate, CFC-11, d3He, tritium, 14C, 13C, total alkalinity and total carbon dioxide, against depth along the WOCE Hydrographic Programme one-time lines.