Float Quality Control Publications

Salinity Drift Adjustment Example

Sensor Response Correction Example

Delayed-mode quality control of Argo float CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) data is vital to optimizing scientific use of the data. Scientists working at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) have led international efforts to implement and then improve delayed mode quality control of Argo Float CTD data.

While at NOAA/PMEL, Dr. Annie Wong (now at the University of Washington) worked with Dr. Gregory C. Johnson of PMEL and Dr. W. Brechner Owens of WHOI to develop a system to compare Potential Temperature-Salinity (θ-S) curves from float CTDs to maps of historical θ-S curves, and recommend salinity adjustments with error bars for with CTD calibration drifts. This work has been published. The system and variants of it are now in use internationally. As improvements to this system mature, PMEL plans to adopt them.

Dr. Johnson has also worked with Dr. John Toole of WHOI and Dr. Nordeen Larson of Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. to quantify sensor response corrections for some float CTDs, and recommend methods of correction for these errors. This work has also been written up in a scientific paper.