A software to merge temperature and salinity profiles with climatology

Abstract

Temperature and salinity are two major parameters deciding the characteristics of the ocean water column. Accurate information of these parameters is always a pre-requisite for any study of major climatic/physical processes. The insitu measurement of these parameters is done using instruments such as XBT, XCTD and CTD. Most of the instances, the data will not be collected upto the bottom depth due to instrument or time limitations. In such cases, the collected profiles are artificially extended up to ocean bottom, which is not always true. A better option is to extract the profile upto bottom by blending the insitu profile with climatology.The Profile blending software, written in Visual Basic, is for merging real time insitu temperature and salinity profiles with the climatology profiles for providing the data from surface to bottom. This s/w provides a smoother transition of gradient across the merge point without disturbing the insitu data. It also provides the climatological salinity profile for the corresponding near real time temperature profile obtained from expendable bathythermograph (XBT) records.