BOA is the result of collecting together the majority of global high-quality buoy and shipboard deepwater hydrographic cast data. It is built on the NOAA/NODC World Ocean Database (BOA06 uses WOD01), WOCE WHP3, Argo, TAO, CSIRO and NIWA archives, and a number of other sources. The component datasets of BOA are stored separately in a range of formats since the nature of these datasets is quite varied. This approach allows easy updating of components (for example, the Argo subset is completely renewed every couple of months.) Where the same data could reside in multiple datasets, those datasets are duplicate cross-checked after any updates (scanning only on the basis of time and location, not the enormous task of searching for duplicated property profiles.). BOA is available in a packaged form of one netCDF file per property (created in July 2006.) Neutral density profiles are also computed and stored in file gamma_BOA06.nc. These files are available via an OpenDAP server and for internal use as local netCDF files.

Argo is an international collaboration that collects high-quality temperature and salinity profiles from the upper 2000m of the ice-free global ocean and currents from intermediate depths. The data comes from more than 3000 battery-powered autonomous floats that spend most of their life drifting at depth covering most of the world oceans. At typically 10-day intervals, the floats rise to the surface over about 6 hours while measuring temperature and salinity. Satellites determine the position of the floats when they surface, and receive the data transmitted by the floats. The float then returns to its original density and sinks to drift until the cycle is repeated. Floats are designed to make about 150 such cycles. Argo Australia provides real-time observations of the oceans around Australia by maintaining an array of autonomous profiling floats. Data and information regarding Argo Australia and the International Argo program can be found at the Argo Australia web page (see data link below). CMAR holds a mirror of the data from the US Argo server for internal project access, this is regularly updated. (see data link below).

This study examined the larval biology and ecology of the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) based on approximately 3000 archived plankton and mid-water trawl samples held, principally, by CSIRO, Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, and the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Victoria. Additional samples were provided by the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere, New Zealand; some samples were opportunistically collected during the project to fill in areas where there was a lack of archived samples. The combined sample set covered the major geographic range of the fishery in Australia (132E/32S - 155E/46S). Details of larval growth, duration and distribution were combined with concurrently collected hydrographic data and satellite based observations to examine possible larval transport mechanisms, connectivity between management zones and physical factors that may influence the supply of larvae on a regional basis. The dataset is primarily in Excel format with a summary of the results presented in a final report to FRDC (project number 96/107).

The primary basis for the project was the analysis of existing plankton and larval fish samples and the collation of data sets on larval distribution that had been derived from sampling across broad areas of southern and eastern Australia over the last 17 years. Some of these samples had been archived in the CSIRO Ian Munro Fish Collection, Australian Museum or South Australian Museum as part of the FRDC funded regional larval fish archive (FRDC94/55). Other samples or data sets were resident within the collections of collaborating institutions. The project focused its analyses on southern and southeast Australia spanning the area from the Great Australian Bight (GAB) to northern NSW. This region was selected for four reasons: First, sampling had been most intensive in this region and available data sets provided excellent spatial and seasonal coverage. Second, our ability to identify larvae to species was well developed in the region. Third, the oceanography of the region had been the subject of intensive study and provided a sound basis for linking biological data to physical processes. Fourth, additional sampling during the period of this project was scheduled that further enhanced sample coverage (specifically sampling by MAFRI in Bass Strait Bass Strait and sampling by CSIRO in the GAB). The Larval Fish Database (LFD) has been created in Microsoft Access. It has been divided into two parts: a data module that houses raw data and an application module that automatically displays summaries of these data in a user-friendly fashion. By dividing the database into two parts, the user only has access to the specified data summaries, the raw data remain secure and the LFD can be updated as further data become available. The LFD incorporates an ActiveX component (MapInfo MapX) that allows the user to visualise spatial data and animations of modelled larval dispersal that are displayed using Microsoft's Media Player. The LFD has been designed to allow expa

The QuOTA project involved NOAA-IPRC and CMAR jointly undertaking to build a very high quality ocean thermal data archive by applying methods and expertise developed through the NOAA-IPRC/CMAR IOTA (Indian Ocean Thermal Archive) collaboration which was established in 1998. The Quota Project resulted in building a high quality upper ocean temperature dataset for the Indian Ocean and the South-western Pacific (east of the dateline). QuOTA contains ocean temperature data collected since 1778 and includes XBT, CT, CU, CTD, XCDT, MBT, BT, BA, DT, SST, TE, UO, bottle, drifting and moored bouy data. Quality control of the data is done by automated processes, followed by 'hand-QC' of data that fails the automated test. This results in a data set containing very little 'bad' data and any that remains is usually subtly faulty, having little impact on most analyses.