Longhurst code refers to a set of geospatial four-letter geocodes for referencing geographic regions in oceanography.
The set of 56 geocodes represent biogeochemical provinces that partition the pelagic environment. It is assumed that each province represents a unique set of environmental conditions.[1]
They are named after Alan R. Longhurst, the author of "Ecological Geography of the Sea", the textbook in which these codes are defined.[2]
These codes have also been used in bioinformatic databases such as IMG to represent sample origins for sequenced microbial genomes, as a supplement to latitude and longitude coordinate metrics.[3]
| longhurst_code | province_name | ocean | biome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FKLD | Southwest Atlantic shelves | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| BRAZ | Brazilian current coast | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| BENG | Benguela current coast | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| GUIN | Guinea current coast | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| CNRY | Canary current coast | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| GUIA | Guianas coast | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| NECS | Northeast Atlantic shelves | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| NWCS | Northwest Atlantic shelves | Atlantic | Coastal | |
| ARCT | Atlantic Arctic | Atlantic | Polar | |
| SARC | Atlantic sub-Arctic | Atlantic | Polar | |
| SATL | South Atlantic gyral | Atlantic | Trade wind | |
| ETRA | Eastern tropical Atlantic | Atlantic | Trade wind | |
| WTRA | Western tropical Atlantic | Atlantic | Trade wind | |
| CARB | Caribbean | Atlantic | Trade wind | |
| NATR | North Atlantic tropical gyral | Atlantic | Trade wind | |
| NAST E | Northeast Atlantic subtropical gyral | Atlantic | Westerly | |
| MEDI | Mediterranean Sea | Atlantic | Westerly | |
| NAST W | Northwest Atlantic subtropical gyral | Atlantic | Westerly | |
| GFST | Gulf Stream | Atlantic | Westerly | |
| NADR | North Atlantic Drift | Atlantic | Westerly | |
| HUMB | Humboldt current coast | Pacific | Coastal | |
| AUSE | East Australian coast | Pacific | Coastal | |
| SUND | Sunda-Arafura shelves | Pacific | Coastal | |
| CHIN | China Sea | Pacific | Coastal | |
| CAMR | Central American coast | Pacific | Coastal | |
| ALSK | Alaska coastal downwelling | Pacific | Coastal | |
| NEWZ | New Zealand coast | Pacific | Coastal | |
| CCAL | Coastal Californian current | Pacific | Coastal | |
| BERS | North Pacific epicontinental sea | Pacific | Polar | |
| ARCH | Archipelagic deep basins | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| PEQD | Pacific equatorial divergence | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| PNEC | North Pacific equatorial counter current | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| NPTG | North Pacific Tropical gyre | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| C(O)CAL | California current | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| SPSG | South Pacific gyre | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| WARM | Western Pacific warm pool | Pacific | Trade wind | |
| TASM | Tasman Sea | Pacific | Westerly | |
| KURO | Kuroshio current | Pacific | Westerly | |
| PSAE | Eastern Pacific subarctic gyres | Pacific | Westerly | |
| PSAW | Western Pacific subarctic gyres | Pacific | Westerly | |
| NPPF | North Pacific polar front | Pacific | Westerly | |
| NPSW | Northwest Pacific subtropical | Pacific | Westerly | |
| NPSE | Northeast Pacific subtropical | Pacific | Westerly | |
| EAFR | East African coast | Indian | Coastal | |
| AUSW | Western Australian and Indonesian coast | Indian | Coastal | |
| IND E | Eastern India coast | Indian | Coastal | |
| REDS | Red Sea, Persian Gulf | Indian | Coastal | |
| IND W | Western India coast | Indian | Coastal | |
| ISSG | Indian South subtropical gyre | Indian | Trade wind | |
| MONS | Indian monsoon gyre | Indian | Trade wind | |
| ARAB | Northwest Arabian Sea upwelling | Indian | Westerly | |
| SSTC | South subtropical convergence | Antarctic | Westerly | |
| SANT | Subantarctic water ring | Antarctic | Westerly | |
| ANTA | Antarctic | Antarctic | Polar | |
| APLR | Austral polar | Antarctic | Polar | |
| BPRL | Boreal polar | Arctic | Polar |