Publication Date

7-1992

GSO Technical Report Number

92-3

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Abstract

This report documents our procedures and the accuracy of objective maps of bottom pressure in the Synop Central Array region between June 1988 and August 1990. The pressure maps are made by using multivariate objective analysis procedures to combine data from bottom pressure measurements by Inverted Echo Sounders (PIES) and bottom current meter measurements in the Central Array between June 1988 and August 1990.

A key new feature is that all daily maps can be adjusted to a fixed reference level by combining measurements of bottom pressure and near-bottom currents, (Pb, u, v). While objective stream functions mapped from (u,v) alone are spatially consistent, the reference levels vary temporally from map to map. On the other hand, each bottom pressure record Pb has a temporally consistent reference but the reference can vary from site to site. The combination allows us to adjust all to a common, consistent reference level in multivariate objective maps.

The pressure maps and error maps are displayed daily for 26 months with overlaid measured current vectors. Mapping procedures are documented along with error analyses and comparisins with measured fields. The results produce bottom pressure and current fields with typical error of only 2 mbar and 2 cm/sec, compared to typical signal standard deviation of 6 mbar and 9 cm/s.

The report is one of a series of data reports that document aspects of our participation in the SYNoptic Ocean Predtiction (SYNOP) experiment.

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