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Pressure Sensor Drifts in Argo and Their Impacts
Citation
Barker, PM and Dunn, JR and Domingues, CM and Wijffels, SE, Pressure Sensor Drifts in Argo and Their Impacts, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 28, (8) pp. 1036-1049. ISSN 0739-0572 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2011 AMS
DOI: doi:10.1175/2011JTECHO831.1
Abstract
In recent years, autonomous profiling floats have become the prime component of the in situ ocean observing
system through the implementation of the Argo program. These data are now the dominant input to
estimates of the evolution of the global ocean heat content and associated thermosteric sea level rise. The
Autonomous Profiling Explorer (APEX) is the dominant type of Argo float (;62%), and a large portion of
these floats report pressure measurements that are uncorrected for sensor drift, the size and source of which
are described herein. The remaining Argo float types are designed to automatically self-correct for any
pressure drift. Only about 57% of the APEX float profiles (or ;38% Argo profiles) can be corrected, but this
typically has not been done by the data centers that distribute the data (as of January 2009). A pressure
correction method for APEX floats is described and applied to the Argo dataset. A comparison between
estimates using the corrected Argo dataset and the publically available uncorrected dataset (as of January
2009) reveals that the pressure corrections remove significant regional errors from ocean temperature, salinity,
and thermosteric sea level fields. In the global mean, 43% of uncorrectable APEX float profiles (or
;28% Argo profiles) appear to largely offset the effect of the correctable APEX float profiles with positive
pressure drifts. While about half of the uncorrectableAPEXprofiles can, in principle, be recovered in the near
future (after inclusion of technical information that allows for corrections), the other half have negative
pressure drifts truncated to zero (resulting from firmware limitations), which do not allow for corrections.
Therefore, any Argo pressure profile that cannot be corrected for biases should be excluded from global
change research. This study underscores the ongoing need for careful analyses to detect and remove subtle but
systematic errors in ocean observations.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | Argo floats; pressure drifts; ocean observing system; thermosteric sea level; temperature and salinity biases |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Oceanography |
Research Field: | Physical oceanography |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
Objective Field: | Understanding climate change not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Barker, PM (Dr Paul Barker) |
ID Code: | 76152 |
Year Published: | 2011 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 33 |
Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
Deposited On: | 2012-02-29 |
Last Modified: | 2012-07-17 |
Downloads: | 3 View Download Statistics |
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