XBT Temperature Errors during French Research Cruises (1999-2007)

• Published in: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• Main Authors: Reverdin, Gilles, Marin, Frédéric, Bourlès, Bernard, Lherminier, Pascale
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; North Atlantic; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00605941; https://hal.science/hal-00605941/document; https://hal.science/hal-00605941/file/2009jtecho655_2E1.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHO655.1

International audience Data from French cruises in 1999-2007, a period during which Deep Blue (DB) or T7 expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) were deployed, and for which ancillary temperature data are available in the northeast Atlantic and equatorial Atlantic regions, are examined. There was a total of 16 cruises with XBTs launched between conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) stations; during most of these, as well as during three additional cruises that were also considered, intake temperature was measured. XBT data from two voluntary observing ships in the North Atlantic subpolar gyre for which intake temperature was measured were also investigated. There is an XBT cold bias due to stirring of a stratified upper layer by the ship, resulting in differences between XBT temperatures at 3-5 m and intake measurements. This is most pronounced for midlatitude spring or summer cruises, when it averages about 0.10°C. When these situations are removed, the comparisons clearly indicate positive biases in XBT temperature measurements in 1999-2006, with individual cruise averages generally between 0° and 0.1°C, and a tendency to have larger biases when surface temperature is high. In addition, a positive depth-estimate bias of the XBTs in the upper thermocline (on the order of 4 m) is identified, as well as a depth overestimation through the profile, averaging 1.7% (1.2%) for the equatorial (midlatitude) cruises (with respect to a previously published depth estimate).