Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Programme

The Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP) is a global ocean resource that provides the highest quality of current data. It's a joint program comprised of the:

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)

The program's objectives include:

• providing timely and complete data on ocean temperature and salinity profiles
• implementing a data flow monitoring system for improving the capture and timeliness of real-time and delayed-mode data
• improving and implementing quality control and duplicates management systems
• facilitating the development and provision of a wide variety of data:
  • sets
  • analyses
  • information products

Real-time data acquisition

Fisheries and Oceans Canada plays a central role in the real-time and near real-time data acquisition within the program. Real-time data is any data exchanged within 30 days of collection. Our goal is to capture the most complete operational time frame data set.

To get this data, we depend on the:

• Global Telecommunications System (GTS) of the World Weather Watch of WMO
• telecommunications arrangements for BATHY and TESAC data established by the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM)

Copies of other real-time or operational time frame data sets are acquired from any other available sources through the Internet of other computer networks.

Data reporting

As the National Oceanographic Data Centre for Canada, we collect and submit Canadian delayed mode data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Canadian universities. Reporting and sharing this data includes:

• compiling the global data set from the various sources
• applying documented quality control and duplicates removal procedures
• forwarding the data to the U.S. National Oceanographic Data Center 3 times per week

The National Oceanographic Data Center adds the data to the program's continuously managed database on the same schedule.

We also send data 3 times per week to clients who don't need the data within hours. The data these clients receive doesn't require computer systems to do quality control and duplicate removal.

Public data access

You may access data through the:

• Fisheries and Oceans Canadian data request form
• program's global data source

Related links

• GTSPP at the National Centers for Environmental Information
• Code forms used on the GTS
• Real-time quality control manual for the GTSPP (2010)
• GTSPP data user's manual