Products / Data
GlobCurrent version 1 products
The first version of GlobCurrent global products are global maps (except the Mediterranean Sea) of the tidal currents, the Stokes drift, the geostrophic currents, and the Ekman-component currents at two distinct depths, the significant wave height (z=hs) and z=15m. A combined current is also provided for those two depths. At each depth, it is computed as the sum of the geostrophic and the Ekman currents (1).
(1) 
The calculation of the geostrophic and Ekman current components are fully described in the following paper:
Rio, M.-H., S. Mulet, and N. Picot (2014), Beyond GOCE for the ocean circulation estimate: Synergetic use of altimetry, gravimetry, and in situ data provides new insight into geostrophic and Ekman currents, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, doi:10.1002/2014GL061773.
The stokes drift is calculated using the third moment of wave spectra from the global WAVEWATCHIII model:
Rascle, N. and F. Ardhuin (2013), A global wave parameter database for geophysical applications. Part 2: model validation with improved source parameterization. Ocean Modelling 70 (2013) 174-188
The tidal current component of Globcurrent is based on the FES2012 model:
Stammer, D., et al. (2014), Accuracy assessment of global barotropic ocean tide models, Rev. Geophys., 52, 243-282, doi:10.1002/2014RG000450
Three years of data are available, spanning the period from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2012.
The temporal resolution of the map series is daily for the geostrophic current and 3-hourly for the Ekman, tidal, Stokes currents as well as for the combined current.
Each current component is provided on a 1/10° grid.
Warning
Despite the high temporal (3-hourly, except geostrophic currents which are daily) and spatial (1/10°) resolution of the GlobCurrent products grids, it should be noted that, by construction, the effective resolution of the geostrophic and Ekman currents is of the order of 5-10 days / 50-100 km. These resolutions will be improved in the future versions of the GlobCurrent products.| Version | Dataset | Description |
| v1.0 | Total Hs currents |
Total current at 0.1° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at surface (hs). The total current is a simple sum of the geostrophic and Ekman components for this preliminary version. |
| v1.0 | Total 15m currents |
Total current at 0.1° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at 15m depth. The total current is a simple sum of the geostrophic and Ekman components for this preliminary version. |
| v1.0 | Geostophic currents |
Geostrophic current at 0.1° resolution (resampled from 0.25° resolution), daily, valid at and near the surface. |
| v1.0 | Ekman Hs currents |
Ekman current at 0.1° resolution (resampled from 0.25° resolution), 3-hourly, valid at surface (hs). |
| v1.0 | Ekman 15m currents |
Ekman currents at 0.1° resolution (resampled from 0.25° resolution), 3-hourly, valid at 15m depth. Note: this is a preliminary dataset, it is not yet formatted to GlobCurrent final format. |
| v1.0 | Stokes drift |
Stokes drift at 0.1° resolution, 3-hourly, modeled from WaveWatch3 wave forecasting system and resampled at 0.1° resolution, valid at the surface. |
| v1.0 | Tidal currents |
Tidal current at 0.1° resolution, 3-hourly, processed from FES2012 tide model, valid at and near the surface. |
GlobCurrent version 2 products
The GlobCurrent version 2 include the same current terms with the following changes:
The geostrophic, Ekman and combined currents are now available from 2002 to 2014. The tidal currents are now discarded and will only be produced on demand of for use cases. The Stokes drift currents will be added soon over the same 2012-2014 period.
Geostrophic currents are now available on a global 1/8° and 1/4° resolution grid : on the 1/8°, grid the resolution improvement is only on the Mediterranean sea and we fill with interpolation from the 1/4° grid product elsewhere so users interested in other areas than the Med Sea should use the 1/4° product.
Ekman and total currents are provided at 1/4° resolution, every 3 hours like in version 1. The calculation of Ekman has been improved, refer to the product ATBD for more details.
| Version | Dataset | Description |
| v2.0 | Total Hs currents |
Total current at 0.25° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at surface (hs). The total current is a simple sum of the geostrophic and Ekman components. Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Total 15m currents |
Total current at 0.25° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at 15m depth. The total current is a simple sum of the geostrophic and Ekman components. Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Geostophic currents |
Geostrophic current at 0.25° resolution, daily, valid at and near the surface. Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Geostophic currents |
Geostrophic current at 0.125° resolution, daily, valid at and near the surface. Resolution improvement is only over the Mediterranean Sea (interpolation from the 0.25° product is used elsewhere). Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Ekman Hs currents |
Ekman current at 0.25° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at surface (hs). Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Ekman 15m currents |
Ekman currents at 0.25° resolution, 3-hourly, valid at 15m depth. Available from 2002 to 2014. Check the related product handbook. |
| v2.0 | Stokes drift |
Stokes drift at 0.5° resolution, 3-hourly, modeled from WaveWatch3 wave forecasting system, valid at the surface. Available from 2002 to 2014. Soon. Check the related product handbook. |
Access
The above products as well as all the data collected as inputs to GlobCurrent processing or for validation purposes can be accessed freely and openly. They have been assembled onto a single thematic platform and are available through various means:
- FTP (eftp.ifremer.fr with login/password obtained below)
- OpenDAP
- THREDDS
- Remote access and procesing of GlobCurrent data is also possible through Nephelae cloud
For FTP access, (simple!) registration is required to keep track of the usage of these products.
GlobCurrent data access
The main products generated by GlobCurrent team are in the following repository:
- data/globcurrent/v1.0 for version 1 products
- data/globcurrent/v2.0 for version 2 products
Format
The GlobCurrent product format specifications can be found here.