juliensimon/argo-deep-float-profiles

Argo Deep Float Profile Index

Index of 55,000+ profiles from Deep Argo floats (ARVOR-D, APEX-D, SOLO-D, NINJA-D), 2012-2026: float, cycle, date, position, ocean basin and data centre for each deep profile.

55620 rows x 16 columns, stored as zstd-compressed Parquet.

Usage

from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/argo-deep-float-profiles", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

Schema

Column	Type	Description
profile_file	string	Path of the profile NetCDF file on the Argo GDAC, e.g. aoml/13857/profiles/D13857_001.nc. Unique per row.
float_wmo	string	WMO number of the float, parsed from the file path.
dac	string	Argo Data Assembly Centre that holds the file (e.g. aoml, coriolis, jma).
cycle_number	int32	Cycle (profile) number of the float, parsed from the file name.
data_mode	string	R for a real-time file and D for a delayed-mode file (Argo file-name convention: first letter of the file name).
is_descending	bool	True for the descending-phase profile of the cycle (file name ends in D before .nc); false for the usual ascending profile.
profile_date	datetime	Date and time of the profile (UTC), as given in the index; empty for 220 profiles.
latitude	float64	Profile latitude in decimal degrees; empty for 686 profiles (about 1.2%). (degrees_north)
longitude	float64	Profile longitude in decimal degrees; empty together with latitude. (degrees_east)
ocean	string	Argo ocean basin code: A (Atlantic), I (Indian) or P (Pacific); empty when the position is missing.
ocean_name	string	Ocean basin name for the code: Atlantic, Indian or Pacific (derived).
profiler_type	string	WMO instrument type code of the float (Argo reference table 8): 838, 849, 862, 864 or 883.
instrument_model	string	Name of the instrument type from Argo reference table 8, e.g. ARVOR-D deep float with SBE conductivity sensor (derived).
institution_code	string	Two-letter code of the institution running the data centre record (AO, IF, JA, BO, ME, HZ).
record_updated	datetime	When the GDAC file was last updated (UTC; field date_update). This is not the measurement time.
quality_flags	string	Semicolon-separated flags for source anomalies (empty when none): profile_date_after_update.

Data quality

Every build is validated before publication; a failing check blocks the upload. Checks applied: schema, dtypes, row_count, nulls, duplicates, row_drop, bounds, critical_columns, column_completeness, unique_key, allowed_values, ordered_pairs. A machine-readable quality_report.json ships with the dataset.

Completeness versus source: The gzip stream is verified end to end (CRC and length) and must contain at least 3 million profile rows; every deep profile's float must appear in the float metadata index as the same deep type; every file name must follow the Argo convention; (float, cycle, direction) must be unique.

Column	Non-null	Completeness
profile_file	55620 / 55620	100.0%
float_wmo	55620 / 55620	100.0%
dac	55620 / 55620	100.0%
cycle_number	55620 / 55620	100.0%
data_mode	55620 / 55620	100.0%
is_descending	55620 / 55620	100.0%
profile_date	55400 / 55620	99.6%
latitude	54934 / 55620	98.8%
longitude	54934 / 55620	98.8%
ocean	54934 / 55620	98.8%
ocean_name	54934 / 55620	98.8%
profiler_type	55620 / 55620	100.0%
instrument_model	55620 / 55620	100.0%
institution_code	55620 / 55620	100.0%
record_updated	55620 / 55620	100.0%
quality_flags	372 / 55620	0.7%

Data source

• Argo GDAC global profile index: https://data-argo.ifremer.fr/ar_index_global_prof.txt.gz (DOI: 10.17882/42182)
• Argo GDAC global float metadata index: https://data-argo.ifremer.fr/ar_index_global_meta.txt.gz (DOI: 10.17882/42182)

Known limitations

• This is an INDEX of profile files (where and when each deep float profiled). It has no pressure, temperature or salinity values and no maximum depth; those are in the NetCDF files named by profile_file.
• Deep is defined by the instrument model - the five models Argo reference table 8 explicitly calls deep (838 ARVOR-D, 849 APEX-D, 862 SOLO-D, 864 NINJA-D, 883 APEX_D RBR). It records what the float was built for, not the depth a given cycle reached. SOLO_D_MRV (874, about 15,800 profiles) is excluded because the table does not describe it as deep.
• 438 deep floats are registered in the metadata index but only 428 have profiles yet.
• 686 profiles (1.2%) have no position and 220 have no date, mostly real-time files; they are published with empty values, never zero.
• 372 profiles carry a profile date later than the record's own last update (record_updated), which is impossible; they are kept unchanged and flagged profile_date_after_update in quality_flags, within a documented tolerance of 2% (record_updated is the source field date_update).
• Real-time files (data_mode R) have only automatic quality control; use the delayed-mode files and the NetCDF quality flags for science. Proper use is the user's responsibility (GDAC readme).
• Data are CC-BY 4.0 and the acknowledgement sentence and DOI in the citation must be reproduced when using them.
• Vocabulary checks reject unseen instrument types, data centres or institutions, so a new deep float model or centre fails the refresh until reviewed.

Update frequency

Refreshed weekly by a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow.

License

CC-BY-4.0

Citation

These data were collected and made freely available by the International Argo Program and the national programs that contribute to it (http://www.argo.ucsd.edu, http://argo.jcommops.org). The Argo Program is part of the Global Ocean Observing System. Argo (2000). Argo float data and metadata from Global Data Assembly Centre (Argo GDAC). SEANOE. https://doi.org/10.17882/42182