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Changing Expendable Bathythermograph Fall Rates and Their Impact on Estimates of Thermosteric Sea Level Rise
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 06:53 authored by Wijffels, SEA, Willis, SE, Domingues, CM, Barker, P, White, NJ, Gronell, A, Ridgway, K, Church, JAA time-varying warm bias in the global XBT data archive is demonstrated to be largely due to changes in the fall rate of XBT probes likely associated with small manufacturing changes at the factory. Deep-reaching XBTs have a different fall rate history than shallow XBTs. Fall rates were fastest in the early 1970s, reached a minimum between 1975 and 1985, reached another maximum in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and have been declining since. Field XBT/CTD intercomparisons and a pseudoprofile technique based on satellite altimetry largely confirm this time history. A global correction is presented and applied to estimates of the thermosteric component of sea level rise. The XBT fall rate minimum from 1975 to 1985 appears as a 10-yr “warm period†in the global ocean in thermosteric sea level and heat content estimates using uncorrected data. Upon correction, the thermosteric sea level curve has reduced decadal variability and a larger, steadier long-term trend.
History
Publication title
Journal of ClimateVolume
21Issue
NovemberPagination
5657–5672ISSN
0894-8755Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Amer Meteorological SocPlace of publication
45 Beacon St, Boston, USA, Ma, 02108-3693Repository Status
- Restricted