Seismic oceanography data in the Gulf of Cadiz

The study of the ocean is challenging due to its complex nature, vastness and harsh environment that make its exhaustive sampling impractical. We present a set of eight multichannel seismic reflection sections acquired in the Southern and Southwestern margins of Portugal. These data were acquired between June and August 2001 by a seismic acquisition service company for energy resources exploration, and were carefully processed to imaging weak acoustic reflections in the water column originated at variations in ocean temperature and salinity (i.e., seismic oceanography). The data set provided here comprises a total length of 869.39 km, including the raw field records (i.e., shot gathers) for all seismic sections, in the time domain and with the relevant information for the water column, and the post-stack migrated seismic section in the depth domain. This comprehensive dataset provide a quasi-synoptic view of this complex oceanographic setting, the Gulf of Cadiz and Southwestern Iberian margin, and illustrate the potential of seismic oceanography data as complementary, and high spatial resolution data for oceanographic studies.