Vertical Profiles

The Vertical Profile Viewer is a feature of OceanGraph that allows you to visualize and compare vertical profiles of oceanographic data.

With this tool, you can:

• Upload one or more JSON files containing vertical profile data.
• Visualize temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and supported optional BGC variables by depth.
• Add a brief note that is included in the downloaded ZIP file.
• Download profile charts, a shared legend, and the note as a ZIP file.

This feature is designed for researchers, students, and ocean enthusiasts who wish to analyze and compare their own custom oceanographic data — especially data that follows the variable structure commonly used in Argo float observations.

Access and Limits

Vertical Profiles is available to signed-in users on desktop browsers only.

• Open Menu > Analysis Lab > Vertical Profiles in the live app.
• Upload up to 30 JSON files.
• If you upload a file with the same filename as an existing uploaded file, the previous file is replaced.
• Select or deselect uploaded files to control which profiles are shown in the charts.
• Use Clear All to remove uploaded files and clear the note.

The downloaded ZIP contains one PNG file for each chart type, a shared legend image when profiles are loaded, and note.txt.

Supported JSON Format

The JSON structure used in this tool is based on the variable naming conventions of Argo float profiles. Each uploaded file must be a JSON file with the following required keys:

{
  "pressure": [ ... ],
  "potential_temperature": [ ... ],
  "absolute_salinity": [ ... ],
  "oxygen": [ ... ],
  "wmo_id": "2902447",
  "cycle_number": 17
}

• "pressure": array of numbers (required, must not be empty)
• "potential_temperature": array of numbers (required; if non-empty, same length as pressure)
• "absolute_salinity": array of numbers (required; if non-empty, same length as pressure)
• "oxygen": array of numbers — dissolved oxygen concentration (μmol/kg) (required; if non-empty, same length as pressure)
• "wmo_id": string or number (required, up to 20 characters after conversion to text)
• "cycle_number": number (required)

Optional BGC keys can also be included:

• "chlorophyll": array of numbers or nulls — chlorophyll-a (mg/m³) (same length as pressure, if present)
• "nitrate": array of numbers or nulls — nitrate (μmol/kg) (same length as pressure, if present)
• "bbp700": array of numbers or nulls — particulate backscattering at 700 nm (m⁻¹) (same length as pressure, if present)
• "ph": array of numbers or nulls — in-situ pH (same length as pressure, if present)
• "irradiance490": array of numbers or nulls — downwelling irradiance at 490 nm (W/m²/nm) (same length as pressure, if present). This key is accepted, but it is not displayed as a chart in the current interface.
• "par": array of numbers or nulls — photosynthetically available radiation (μmol/m²/s) (same length as pressure, if present)

Any additional keys will be ignored. Files that do not follow the required structure or fail validation will be skipped during upload.