This dataset contains temperature data from the TOGA/WOCE transect IX9 across the Indian Ocean, between Fremantle and the Persian Gulf. Data have been collected since November 1985 until January 1996. The transect is repeated approximately monthly. Profiles are obtained approximately every 60km (a 1 degree latitude / 1.5 degree longitude grid).
The data are obtained from XBTs (expendable bathythermographs) deployed via the Ship-of-Opportunity Program (SOOP) of the IOC/WMO Integrated Global Ocean Services System (IGOSS), and are now managed by the Joint Australian Facility for Ocean Observing Systems (JAFOOS), a collaborative venture between CSIRO Marine Research and the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC).
Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs) have been used for many years by oceanographers to measure the temperature of the upper ocean. These instruments are simple devices which are designed to be deployed from moving vessels, enabling broad scale coverage of the world's oceans.