The WOCE/ARGO Global Hydrographic Climatology (WAGHC) is concieved as the update of the previous WOCE Global Hydrographic Climatology (WGHC) (Gouretski and Koltermann, 2004).

The following improvements have been made compared to the WGHC:

2) finer spatial resolution (0.25 degrees Lat/Lon compared to 0.5 degrees for WGHC);

3) finer vertical resolution (65 compared to 45 WGHC standard levels);

4) monthly temporal resolution compared to the all-data-mean WGHC parameters;

5) narrower overall time period;

6) calculation of the mean year corresponding to the optimally interpolated temperature and salinity values;

7) depth of the upper mixed layer.

Similar to the WGHC the optimal spatial interpolation is performed on the local isopycnal surfaces. This approach diminishes the production of the artificial water masses. In addition to the isopycnally interpolated parameters parameter values interpolated on the isobaric levels are also provided.

The monthly gridded vertical profiles extend to the depth of 1898 m, below only annual mean parameter values are available.

Additionally, there is a dataset and a map available providing indexes for selected regions of the world ocean.

Finally, the comparison with the last update of the NOAA World Ocean Atlas (Locarnini et al, 2013) was done.