Thorium-234 is widely used for studying the removal rate of material on sinking particles from the upper ocean and for determining the downward flux of carbon. In this study, we present a compilation of the 50 years of ²³⁴Th measurements in the ocean and provide a broad overview of the character of the datasets. This provides a valuable resource useful to better understand and quantify how the contemporary oceanic carbon uptake functions and how it will change in future.