The first revision of the GTSPP Real-Time Quality Control Manual
is available there through this link.
The Manual, published as IOC Manuals and Guides No. 22 Rev., can be
downloaded there through this link.
The purpose of this Manual is to set standards for quality
control of real-time data and to describe exactly the screening
process that is employed. By reading this document, users may
assess the applicability of the procedures to their requirements
and thereby judge whether they need do further work before
using the data.
This Manual has been produced within the context of the Global
Temperature-Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP). Because the
work of assuring the quality of data handled by the Programme
is shared amongst data centres, it is important to have both
consistent and well documented procedures. This Manual describes
the means by which data quality is assessed and the actions
taken as a result of the procedures.
OceanObs'09
GTSPP Community White Paper (PDF, 791KB)
The paper can be cited as a peer-reviewed publication: Sun, C., Thresher,
A., Keeley, R., Hall, N., Hamilton, M., Chinn, P., Tran, A., Goni, G.,
PETIT de la VILLEON. L., Carval, T., Cowen, L., Manzella, G., Gopalakrishna,
V., Guerrero, P., Reseghetti, F., Kanno, Y., Klein, B., Rickards, L.,
Baldoni, A., Lin, S., Ji, F., and Nagaya, Y. "The Data Management System
for the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme", in Proceedings
of the "OceanObs.09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for
Society" Conference (Vol. 2), Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall,
J., Harrison D.E. and Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication WPP-306, 2010.
The fall rate equation coefficients, a, for the Fast Deep
(021) and T-11 (071) XBT probes were incorrectly listed as 6.346 and 1.779 in
the WMO code table
1770, respectively. The coefficients for the Fast Deep and T-11
XBT probes should be a = 6.390 and a = 1.7779, respectively.
Beginning 7 July 2008, all of the individual GTSPP Best Copy files
will be saved on a single file using the Unix utility tar command and
then compressed using the utility gzip. Its main advantage over the old
'.zip' format file is much better compression. The '.tgz' format files
of the monthly GTSPP Best Copy archives are available from ftp://ftp.nodc.noaa.gov/nodc/data/oc1.gtspp/best_nc.
The US NODC has identified the Argo profiles with pressure offset
errors stored in the GTSPP database and generated a list (inventory
file) of the affected profiles. The following plot shows the station
locations of the problematic profiles. The total number of the problematic
profiles is 14,904 as of February 28, 2007. There were 13,541 stations
in the Atlantic, 124 station in the Indian and 1,239 stations in the
Pacific. These stations have been marked as inactive in the GTSPP database.
Users are advised that they should either exclude all SOLO FSI data
from analyses or apply other quality control measures appropriate to
their specific application.
Important notice to the GTSPP users (pressure offset errors):
It has been learned that Argo profiles from SOLO floats with FSI CTD
(Argo Program WHOI) may have incorrect pressure values. Profile data
may be offset upward by one or more pressure levels, resulting in
a significant cold bias for these instruments. Problematic floats
are mostly in the Atlantic Ocean (198 out of the 211 presently active
FSI SOLO instruments). The problem does not affect any other combination
of instrument and sensor. That is, SOLO SBE, PROVOR (FSI or SBE),
APEX and all other instrument combinations are unaffected. In GTS
TESAC messages, potentially affected instruments can be identified
by instrument type 852 (SOLO FSI, see WMO Code Table 1770). The problem
is presently being analyzed, and once the detailed nature is understood,
further information regarding identification and/or correction (if
possible) of affected profiles will be provided. Please subscribe
to the Argo Data Management mailing list (argo-dm@jcommops.org,
see http://argo.jcommops.org*)
if you want updates.
Users are advised they should either exclude all SOLO FSI data from
analyses or apply other quality control measures appropriate to their
specific application. As a reminder, near real-time (R/T) Argo data
are subjected to only coarse, automated quality control procedures.
The Argo project endeavors to provide the best quality data possible,
but R/T data may contain errors and should be used with due caution.
For full documentation of the Argo data system, see http://www.argodatamgt.org*.
27 February 2007
Announced the enhanced layout design of the Global Temperature-Salinity
Profile Program Web site.
