An Evaluation of the WOCE Volunteer Observing Ship–XBT Network in the Atlantic

Abstract
A volunteer observing ship (VOS)-expendable bathythermograph (XBT) network has been proposed for the Atlantic Ocean to satisfy World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) objectives in the upper water column. These objectives include measuring changes in upper-layer temperature. An evaluation of the proposed WOCE XBT network to resolve variability in sea surface temperature (SST), temperature distribution at 150 m (T150), and average temperature of the upper 400 m (T400L) between 25°S and 35°N is performed. A sampling design study based on an optimum interpolation (OI) of the historical XBT dataset is used to construct uncertainty distributions for various XBT networks. The OI technique requires statistical representations of the variability (in the form of structure functions) of the three variables that are derived from the historical database. The structure functions and various sampling grids are used to construct uncertainty maps. Two seasons are used in the analysis of SST. In both seasons, u... Abstract A volunteer observing ship (VOS)-expendable bathythermograph (XBT) network has been proposed for the Atlantic Ocean to satisfy World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) objectives in the upper water column. These objectives include measuring changes in upper-layer temperature. An evaluation of the proposed WOCE XBT network to resolve variability in sea surface temperature (SST), temperature distribution at 150 m (T150), and average temperature of the upper 400 m (T400L) between 25°S and 35°N is performed. A sampling design study based on an optimum interpolation (OI) of the historical XBT dataset is used to construct uncertainty distributions for various XBT networks. The OI technique requires statistical representations of the variability (in the form of structure functions) of the three variables that are derived from the historical database. The structure functions and various sampling grids are used to construct uncertainty maps. Two seasons are used in the analysis of SST. In both seasons, u...

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