McPhaden M.J., Busalacchi A.J., Picaut Joël, Raymond G. (1988). A model study of potential sampling errors due to data scatter around expendable bathythermograph transects in the Tropical Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93 (C7), p. 8119-8130. ISSN 0148-0227.
Titre du document
A model study of potential sampling errors due to data scatter around expendable bathythermograph transects in the Tropical Pacific
Année de publication
1988
Type de document
Article
Auteurs
McPhaden M.J., Busalacchi A.J., Picaut Joël, Raymond G.
Source
Journal of Geophysical Research, 1988,
93 (C7), p. 8119-8130 ISSN 0148-0227
We describe a series of sampling sensitivy experiments to examine potential errors due to data scatter around expendable bathythermograph (XBT) transects in the tropical Pacific. We use a linear, multiple vertical mode model forced with three differrent monthly mean wind stress sets for the period 1979-1983. The model is sampled along approximately straight lines of grid points corresponding to the mean positions of XBT tracks in the eastern, central, and western Pacific and then sampled again at the dates and location of actual XBT casts for 1979-1983. Model dynamic heights are calculated with a resolution of 1° of latitude and 1 month, then processed to a monthly mean seasonal cycle and anomalies associated with the 1982-1983 El Nino. When results are compared for the two methods of sampling, the model indicates that data scattered zonally around XBT transects in general can lead to about 2 dyn cm error in dynamic height (equivalent to a 10-m error in model pycnocline displacement) in composite sections of XBT data.
