A regional ocean database for the Coastal China Sea

Access to high-quality marine geophysical and biogeochemical in-situ data poses a challenge for model evaluation and parameter calibration of the Coastal China Sea (CCS). We describe a new regional ocean database for CCS (RODCCS) with original data from six repositories. The database covers the region of 116-135°E in longitude and 20-42°N in latitude, which embraces the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and a part of the Sea of Japan. About 3.9 million data points are collected and sorted according to variable types, including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, silicate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphate, Chlorophyll a, dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate organic carbon. These data are quality-controlled (QCed) with six QC checks and stored in a Network Common Data Format (NetCDF) file. RODCCS includes twelve NetCDF files, each with a unified structure. The database is easily accessed and of high quality after QC checks, making it suitable for a wide range of marine modelling as well as field research for the CCS.