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Quick Start: Your First 10 Minutes

Follow this path from a map search to one float’s trajectory and an optional signed-in analysis.

Open OceanGraph and follow along.

Before You Start

You can complete steps 1–3 without an account. Profile graphs, analyses, and derived data layers require signing in.

See Features for the complete access and usage-limit reference.

Step 1: Search the map

  1. Set a Date Range (anonymous: up to 30 days; signed in: up to 90 days).
  2. Set the Geographic Bounds by interacting with the map.
  3. Optionally check Only profiles with BGC to keep profiles with biogeochemical measurements.
  4. Run the search.

If you already know a float, enter its WMO ID in the Profile Details panel to load all of its profiles.

See Search and Bookmark for details.

Step 2: Select a marker

Signed-in users can also inspect the selected profile graph. Start with the overall shape of temperature or salinity and note the surface layer, the main gradient, and the deeper structure before moving to a multi-profile view.

Step 3: Follow One Float (Trajectory and Section)

  1. In the map command bar, turn on Trajectory to load every cycle along the selected float’s trajectory.
  2. Open Analysis and select View section to see the time-series vertical section.

The dashed line marks the selected profile. Gray or blank areas indicate missing or insufficient data, not zero values.

See Trajectory and Time-Series Vertical Section.

Step 4: Choose an Analysis — Signed In

Open Analysis and select Generate θ–S to compare temperature-salinity structure, or Run clustering to group profiles by vertical structure. On narrower layouts, open Tools first.

With Trajectory off, these analyses use the current search results; with it on, they use all loaded cycles for the selected float. The limit is 500 profiles or cycles, so a WMO with more than 500 cycles cannot be analyzed. Analysis shows why an action is disabled.

See θ–S Diagram and Clustering.

Continue With Derived Data Layers

Signed-in users can choose one Data layer to color map markers:

  • MLD: mixed layer depth; works with core Argo profiles.
  • SOM: subsurface oxygen maximum; requires dissolved oxygen data from BGC profiles.
  • Mode Water: detected layer thickness for a selected type, such as NPSTMW.

Gray or no-data markers indicate that a valid result is unavailable. MLD and SOM can also appear on the matching section chart. See Limitations for missing charts or blank areas.

Where to go next

  • Review the full Usage Guide and choose the workflow that matches your goal.
  • Compare your own Argo-format JSON files in Vertical Profiles (signed-in, desktop only).
  • Browse precomputed views in Visual Lab.
  • Read the Articles for background on Argo floats, T-S diagrams, BGC parameters, and more.