Reverdin G., Cayan D., Dooley H.D., Ellett D.J., Levitus S., Penhoat Yves du, Dessier Alain. (1994). Surface salinity of the North Atlantic : can we reconstruct its fluctuations over the last one hundred years ?. Progress in Oceanography, 33, p. 303-346.
Titre du document
Surface salinity of the North Atlantic : can we reconstruct its fluctuations over the last one hundred years ?
Année de publication
1994
Type de document
Article
Auteurs
Reverdin G., Cayan D., Dooley H.D., Ellett D.J., Levitus S., Penhoat Yves du, Dessier Alain
Source
Progress in Oceanography, 1994,
33, p. 303-346
Surface samples have been collected in the North Atlantic in the past one hundred years for determining the ocean salinity and its temperature. A large share of the data we have used were collected by merchant vessels of weather ships of European countries and to a large extent are listed in reports, in particular in the "Bulletin Hydrographique". We investigate whether these data are relevant for determining low frequency fluctuations of the sea surface salinity. We find many crossing in the 1920s for which salinity is anomalously high compared with the climatology or with other crossings collected on the same ship line. These anomalies are indicative of a contamination of the sample. By examining hydrographic data, reports and recent experience in collectionand storage in sea water, we can attribute these large errors to unclean buckets where salt crystals dissolve into the sample and to breathing of the samples during the storage. Each of these stages contributes in estimating a too large salinity and adds to the scatter of the measurements. (D'après résumé d'auteur)
