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An integrated database of ocean temperature and salinity observations
Author(s) -
Atkinson Christopher P.,
Rayner Nick A.,
Kennedy John J.,
Good Simon A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1002/2014jc010053
Subject(s) - metadata , database , identifier , environmental science , computer science , profiling (computer programming) , data quality , sea surface temperature , satellite , meteorology , geography , world wide web , engineering , metric (unit) , operations management , programming language , operating system , aerospace engineering
Observations made by surface‐based instruments and subsurface profiling instruments have, up to now, largely been treated separately, motivated by a focus on different aspects of the climate system. However, activities such as coupled climate reanalyses, long‐term forecasting, satellite validation, and climate monitoring increasingly want observations from both sets of instruments. To address this, we create an “Integrated” Ocean Database of global in situ temperature and salinity observations covering 1900–2010, which we name HadIOD. The database merges data taken from the latest versions of the International Comprehensive Ocean‐Atmosphere Data Set (surface observations) and the Met Office Hadley Centre EN dataset (subsurface observations). Duplicates introduced by this process are flagged. In addition to the measurements and their basic metadata, each observation in the database is allocated a unique identifier, quality flags and, where possible, bias corrections and uncertainty estimates. A short investigation is presented demonstrating the use, and value, of some of the bias corrections and uncertainties in the database. While this paper describes our initial attempt at building HadIOD, there is much that could be done to build on the foundations presented here. Some ideas for future development are discussed.