{{Short description, Unique alphanumeric identifier
EXPOCODE, or the "expedition code", is a unique alphanumeric identifier defined by the
National Oceanographic Data Center
The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) was one of the national environmental data centers operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The main NODC facility was located in Sil ...
(NODC) of the US. The code defines a standard nomenclature for cruise labels of research vessels and intends to avoid confusion in oceanographic data management.
The code was used by international projects ( WOCE, CarboOcean) and is considered a de facto standard in the international hydrographic community beginning with the Climate Variability Program (CLIVAR) and the EU-Project Eurofleets.
The format of an expocode for an oceanographic cruise is defined in the format NODCYYYYMMDD where:
* ''NODC'' is
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
's National Oceanographic Data Center's 4-character research vessel identifier, consisting of country and ship code
* ''YYYYMMDD'' is the GMT date when the cruise left port.
Example for a cruise of the US research vessel ''Nathaniel B. Palmer'', starting on 2011-02-19: 320620110219 (Code of US = 32, code of Palmer = 06, date when cruise starts 2011-02-19)