Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

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Volumes of the world’s oceans from ETOPO2v2

Eakins¹, B.W., and G.F. Sharman²

¹ Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder, ² NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado

We have calculated the volumes of the world’s oceans from the 2 arc-minute ETOPO2v2 global relief model assembled by the National Geophysical Data Center. Total: 1,332 × 106 km3. Pacific Ocean: 659×106 km3. Atlantic Ocean: 306 × 106 km3. Arctic Ocean: 18.7 × 106 km3. Indian Ocean: 263 × 106 km3. Southern Ocean: 71.0 × 106 km3. Mediterranean region: 4.41 × 106 km3. South China and Eastern Archipelagic seas: 9.78 × 106 km3. Baltic Sea: 21.2 × 103 km3. Ocean limits were derived from IHO Special Publication No. 23 and represented in ArcGIS polygon format. Ocean volumes were determined by clipping the ETOPO2v2 digital elevation model to the appropriate polygon (to prevent inclusion of dry elevations below sea level), calculating the area of each grid cell (using the WGS84 spheroid), and summing the volumes (area × depth) of grid cells below sea level. This methodology can be extended to any ocean basin or other region where a digital elevation model has been generated. We anticipate that our refined ocean volume calculations will prove useful to physical oceanographic studies, climate modeling, and other research that uses ocean volumes as a prerequisite input.