COADS Bridge Data Quality Control Report
 
 
 

Jesse Enloe and Shawn R. Smith
 
 
 
 
 
 

World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Surface Meteorological Data Assembly Center

Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies

Florida State University
 

March 28, 2002
 

Report WOCEMET 99-13

Version 7.0


 



 

Addendum:

Member's of the WOCE Hydrographic Project Office (WHPO) and WOCEMET met at the 13th Data Products Committee (DPC) meeting in College Station, TX to discuss reconciliation of the WOCE cruise line designators. This was done in anticipation of the future release of version 3 of the WOCE global data set, and resulted in changes to several WOCE cruise line designations.

On December 21, 2000, WOCEMET combined the WOCE designator for the Hudson (Identifier: CGDG) cruise AR_05_/01, A__04_/01, AR_20C/01, AR_22_/01 to the updated form, AR_05_/01, AR_20_/01, and AR_22_/01.

The cruise designators, AR_05_/02 and AR_13_/06 should be added to the CGDG's cruise A__01W/00.

The cruise designator AR_04_/05 for the Le Noroit (Identifier: FITA) was split into two different designators, AR_04E/05 and AR_04W/05.

On May 11, 2001 WOCEMET combined the WOCE designators for the Chofu Maru's (Identifier: JCCX) cruises PR_19_/01 and PR_19_/02 to be referenced as PR_19_/01. The quality control information for these data sets has been left in the report for the user, but please note that the lines previously known as PR_19_/01 and PR_19_/02 are now combined together under PR_19_/01.

WOCEMET combined the WOCE designators for the Discoverer's (Identifier: WTEA) cruises P__16N/01 and P__16N/02 to be referenced as P__16N/00. The quality control information for these data sets has been left in the report for the user, but please note that the lines previously known as P__16N/01 and P__16N/02 are now combined together under P__16N/00.

On June 4, 2001 WOCEMET updated the designator for the Franklin's (Identifier:VJJF) cruise line IR_02_/01 to be referenced as S__05_/00.

WOCEMET replaced data from the Franklin's (Identifier: VJJF) two cruises IR_04_/03 and IR_06_/04 with high resolution data. The quality control information for the old data has been left in the report for the user, but the quality control information for the new high resolution data can be found in the new Franklin AWS Data Quality Control Report: WOCEMET 01-08.

On August 6, 2001 WOCEMET removed the WOCE designation for the cruise PR_23_/03 for the Kaiyo (Identifier: JRPG). The quality control information for this data has been left in this report for the user, but please note that the line previously known as PR_23_/03 is NOT a WOCE cruise line.

The WOCE designator for the JRPG's cruise PR_24_/02 has been updated and will now also be listed as PR_23_/02.

WOCEMET removed the WOCE designation for the cruise IR_04_/05 for the Malcolm Baldrige (Identifier: WTER). The quality control information for this data has been left in this report for the user, but pleasr note that the line previously known as IR_04_/05 is NOT a WOCE cruise line.

On August 20, 2001 WOCEMET removed the WOCE designation for the cruise PRS03_/04 for the New Horizon (Identifier: WKWB). The quality control information for this data has been left in this report for the user, but please note that the line previously known as PRS03_/04 is NOT a WOCE cruise line.

On March 28, 2002 WOCEMET removed the WOCE designation for the cruises PR_16_/09 and PR_16_/10 for the Discoverer (Identifier: WTEA). The quality control information for these data have been left in this report for the user, but please note that the lines previously known as PR_16_/09 and PR_16_/10 are NOT WOCE cruise lines.


 



 

Introduction:

The data referenced in this report are bridge observations obtained from the Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) (Slutz et. al.). The data originated on the research vessels Takuyo (identifier: 7JWN), Hudson (identifier: CGDG), Sonne (identifier: DFCG), Le Noroit (identifier: FITA), Charles Darwin (identifier: GDLS), Chofu Maru (identifier: JCCX), Shumpu Maru (identifier: JFDG), Kaiyo (identifier: JRPG), T. Washington (identifier: KGWU), Tyro (identifier: PIBQ), Akademic A. Nesmeyanov (identifier: UBYK), Akademic Lavrentyev (identifier: UJFY), Franklin (identifier: VJJF), New Horizon (identifier: WKWB), Discoverer (identifier: WTEA), Vickers (identifier: WTEC), Malcom Baldrige (identifier: WTER), Oceanus (identifier: WXAQ), James Clarke Ross (identifier: ZDLP), and Agulhas (identifier: ZSAF). The data were provided to the Florida State University Data Assembly Center (DAC) in electronic format by and were converted to standard DAC netCDF format. The data were then processed using an automated screening program, which adds quality control flags to the data, highlighting potential problems. Finally, the Data Quality Evaluator (DQE) reviewed the data and current flags, whereby flags were added, removed, or modified according to the judgement of the DQE and other DAC personnel. Details of the WOCE quality control procedures can be found in Smith et al. (1996). The data quality control report summaries the flags for the Comprehensive Ocean Atmospheric Data Set, including those added by both the preprocessor and the DQE.


 



 

Statistical Information:

The Comprehensive Ocean Atmospheric Data Set is expected to include observations taken at irregular time intervals on all 71 WOCE cruises. Values for the following variables were collected, although some variables were not measured on different research vessels and cruises:

 

Time (TIME)
Latitude (LAT)
Longitude (LON)
Earth Relative Wind Direction (DIR)
Earth Relative Wind Speed (SPD)
Atmospheric Pressure (P)
Air Temperature (T)
Sea Temperature (TS)
Dewpoint Temperature (TD)
Wet Bulb Temperature (TW)
Present Weather (WX)
Total Cloud Amount (TCA)
Low/Middle Cloud Amount (LMCA)
Cloud Base Height (ZCL)
Low Cloud Type (LCT)
Middle Cloud Type (MCT)
High Cloud Type (HCT)

Sixteen of the 71 WOCE cruises were missing one or more of the variables listed above. These missing variables are listed by ship and by cruise in Table 1.

 

Table 1: Missing Variables

RV/CTC TD TW WX LMCA ZCL LCT MCT HCT

CGDG

AR_05_/01;
A__04_/01;
AR_20C/01;
AR_22_/01

AR_07W/02

AR_07W/03

AR_13_/05

 

 

X
 
 
 

X

X

 

   

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

X

     

FITA

PR_15_/18

PR_15_/19

 

 

X

X

           

JCCX

PR_19_/01

PR_19_/03

 

 

 

X

 

X

X

         

JFDG

PR_17_/04

PR_17_/19

 

 

X

 

   

 

 

X

     

PIBQ

AR_07E/01

AR_07E/02

 

 

X

X

           

UBYK

P__01W/00

 

X

 

X

           

UJFY

PR_13N/03

 

X

 

X

           

WXAQ

AR_11_/02

 

 

X

 

 

X

 

 

X

 

X

 

X

ZSAF

ISS01_/01

 

 

X

           

 

Details of the cruises are listed in Table 2 and include cruise dates, number of records, number of values, number of flags, and total percentage of data flagged. A total of 70,354 values were evaluated with 1,132 flags added by the preprocessor and the DQE for a total of 1.61% of the values being flagged. The coded data (WX, TCA, LMCA, ZCL, LCT, MCT, HCT) were not included in these statistics.

 

Table 2: Statistical Cruise Information

RV/CTC

Dates

Number of Records

Number of Values

Number of Flags

Percentage Flagged

CGDG

AR_05_/01;
A__04_/01;
AR_20C/01;
AR_22_/01

AR_07W/02
 

AR_07W/03
 

AR_10_/07
 

AR_07W/04
 

AR_13_/02;
AR_19_/02;
AR_22_/02

AR_07W/05;
AR_13_/03

AR_13_/04
 

AR_13_/05
 

A__01W/00
 


 

04/25/91 - 05/23/91

05/27/91 - 06/04/91

05/28/92 - 06/13/92

04/07/93 - 05/12/93

06/19/93 - 06/28/93

11/05/93 - 12/16/93
 

05/25/94 - 06/12/94

10/13/94 - 11/09/94

04/20/95 - 05/16/95

06/09/95 - 07/04/95

 

88
 
 

20
 

40
 

72
 

32
 

79
 
 

45
 

91
 

60
 

63

 

792
 
 

180
 

360
 

720
 

320
 

790
 
 

450
 

910
 

600
 

630

 

12
 
 

0
 

0
 

6
 

8
 

0
 
 

1
 

4
 

2
 

1

 

1.52
 
 

0.00
 

0.00
 

0.83
 

2.50
 

0.00
 
 

0.22
 

0.44
 

0.33
 

0.16

DFCG

IR_04_/01

 

12/23/90 - 01/19/91

 

95

 

950

 

17

 

1.79

FITA

PR_15_/17
 

PR_15_/18
 

PR_15_/19
 

PR_15_/20
 

PR_15_/21
 

PR_15_/22
 

PR_15_/23
 

AR_04_/05;
AR_15_/16

 

02/01/91 - 03/03/91

03/11/91 - 04/06/91

07/18/91 - 08/13/91

01/02/92 - 02/16/92

02/21/92 - 03/17/92

08/06/92 - 08/31/92

09/05/92 - 10/02/92

09/09/95 - 10/11/95

 

139
 

83
 

70
 

224
 

185
 

177
 

173
 

239
 

 

1,390
 

747
 

630
 

2,240
 

1,850
 

1,770
 

1,730
 

2,390
 

 

10
 

6
 

7
 

7
 

7
 

10
 

13
 

21
 

 

0.72
 

0.80
 

1.11
 

0.31
 

0.38
 

0.56
 

0.75
 

1.51
 

GDLS

AR_10_/03
 

AR_11_/08
 

AR_10_/08
 

 

05/09/92 - 06/07/92

10/01/92 - 10/20/92

04/23/93 - 05/24/93

 

113
 

59
 

125

 

1,130
 

590
 

1,250

 

9
 

3
 

24

 

0.80
 

0.51
 

1.92

JCCX

PR_19_/01
 

PR_19_/02
 

PR_19_/03
 

PR_19_/05
 

 

11/13/90 - 11/16/90

11/18/90 - 11/21/90

11/07/91 - 11/08/91

11/08/92 - 11/18/92

 

25
 

29
 

12
 

75

 

250
 

290
 

108
 

750

 

3
 

0
 

0
 

14

 

1.20
 

0.00
 

0.00
 

1.87

JFDG

PR_17_/04
 

PR_17_/17
 

PR_17_/19
 

 

10/14/91 - 10/16/91

10/01/94 - 10/05/94

07/01/95 - 07/05/95

 

22
 

37
 

34

 

198
 

370
 

340

 

0
 

0
 

0

 

0.00
 

0.00
 

0.00

JRPG

PR_24_/02
 

PR_23_/03
 

 

10/06/92 - 10/19/92

12/13/92 - 12/23/92

 

15
 

56

 

150
 

560

 

0
 

9

 

0.00
 

1.61

KGWU

P__17C/00
 

P__17S/00
 

P__16C/00
 

 

06/03/91 - 07/11/91

07/17/91 - 08/25/91

09/01/91 - 10/01/91

 

132
 

120
 

85

 

1,320
 

1,200
 

850

 

1
 

10
 

10

 

0.08
 

0.83
 

1.18

PIBQ

AR_07E/01
 

AR_07E/02
 

 

07/03/90 - 08/02/90

04/13/91 - 04/30/91

 

64
 

31

 

576
 

279

 

5
 

3

 

0.87
 

1.08

UBYK

P__01W/00

 

08/31/93 - 09/03/93

 

11

 

88

 

3

 

3.41

UJFY

PR_13N/03

 

05/13/93 - 06/08/93

 

75

 

600

 

0

 

0.00

VJJF

IR_04_/03
 

IR_02_/01
 

ISSO3_/01
 

IR_06_/04
 

 

08/28/94 - 09/03/94

11/20/94 - 12/01/94

04/01/95 - 04/22/95

09/20/95 - 10/09/95

 

23
 

22
 

66
 

66

 

230
 

220
 

660
 

660

 

0
 

7
 

3
 

2

 

0.00
 

3.18
 

0.45
 

0.30

WKWB

PRS03_/04

 

11/17/94 - 12/04/94

 

29

 

290

 

1

 

0.34

WTEA

PR_16_/01
 

P__16N/01
 

P__16N/02
 

PR_16_/03
 

PR_16_/05
 

PR_16_/09
 

PR_16_/10
 

PR_16_/14
 

PR_16_/16
 

 

11/28/90 - 12/06/90

02/28/91 - 02/28/91

03/07/91 - 04/06/91

11/01/91 - 11/13/91

10/14/92 - 11/18/92

09/18/93 - 10/15/93

01/27/94 - 01/29/94

02/06/95 - 05/02/95

08/05/95 - 08/26/95

 

74
 

8
 

241
 

231
 

209
 

168
 

19
 

189
 

156

 

740
 

80
 

2,410
 

2,310
 

2,090
 

1,680
 

190
 

1,890
 

1,560

 

19
 

0
 

28
 

36
 

43
 

40
 

0
 

15
 

6

 

2.57
 

0.00
 

1.16
 

1.56
 

2.06
 

2.38
 

0.00
 

0.79
 

0.38

WTER

PR_16_/02
 

PR_16_/04
 

PR_16_/06
 

PR_16_/07
 

AR_21_/02
 

PR_16_/11
 

PR_16_/15
 

PR_16_/12
 

PR_16_/13
 

IR_04_/05
 

 

03/23/91 - 04/19/91

02/23/92 - 03/26/92

02/21/93 - 03/18/93

04/18/93 - 05/14/93

08/22/93 - 10/03/93

04/16/94 - 05/09/94

05/17/94 - 06/17/94

08/04/94 - 08/25/94

08/30/94 - 09/25/94

08/24/95 - 09/25/95

 

205
 

255
 

208
 

221
 

259
 

229
 

284
 

215
 

247
 

238

 

2,050
 

2,550
 

2,080
 

2,210
 

2,590
 

2,290
 

2,840
 

2,150
 

2,470
 

1,380

 

13
 

34
 

74
 

66
 

14
 

75
 

106
 

138
 

91
 

0

 

0.63
 

1.33
 

3.56
 

2.99
 

0.54
 

3.28
 

3.73
 

6.42
 

3.68
 

0.00

WXAQ

AR_11_/02

 

06/19/91 - 07/04/91

 

8

 

72

 

0

 

0.00

ZDLP

SR_01_/04

 

11/20/93 - 12/18/93

 

64

 

640

 

14

 

2.19

ZSAF

ISS01_/01

 

04/05/91 - 05/07/91

 

186

 

1,674

 

81

 

4.84


 



 

Summary:

The overall quality of the bridge data for the COADS proves to be excellent, though the quality varies by ship and by cruise. The distribution of flags for each variable is detailed in Table 3.

Table 3: Number of Flags and Percentage Flagged for Each Variable

Variable

B

D

F

G

L

S

T

Total Number of Flags

Percentage of Variable Flagged

TIME

LAT

LON

DIR

SPD

P

T

TS

TD

TW

WX

TCA

LMCA

ZCL

LCT

MCT

HCT

 

 

 

55

 

 

 

6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7

 

6

13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

57

57

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20

4

17

16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

166

145

5

13

10

8

16

7

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

497

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

497

225

202

60

33

14

32

38

13

18

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

6.99

3.16

2.84

0.84

0.46

0.20

0.45

0.53

0.18

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Total Number of Flags

61

26

114

57

2

375

497

1,132

 

Percentage of All Values Flagged

0.09

0.04

0.16

0.08

  0.00*

0.53

0.70

1.61

*Percentage < 0.01


 



 

Time Duplicate Problem:

Almost seven percent of the time stamps were flagged with the T flag by the preprocessor, indicating time duplication. If there are two values for any given variables that share the same time stamp they will both be displayed at that time by the visual data assessment tool (VIDAT). In many cases, this problem caused spikes in the data. Often times if a spike occurred the DQE determined which value was real and flagged the other value as a spike (S). Though the time duplicate spike occurred throughout the data, it was most common in the position data. The user may wish to avoid using meteorological data at times flagged as duplicates.

Other Problems:

Latitude and Longitude received F flags indicating unrealistic platform velocity as determined by the position data. Both variables also received an L flag, denoting a position over land. Erroneous position reports are not uncommon to bridge data.

A total of 26 D flags were assigned by the preprocessor to T, TW, and TD for failing the T>TW>TD test. In the free atmosphere, the value of the temperature is always greater than or equal to the wet-bulb temperature, which in turn is always greater than or equal to the dewpoint temperature (Smith et al. 1996).

The G flag designates data that have values four standard deviations or greater from the COADS climatological means (da Silva et al. 1994).

The B flag assigned by the preprocessor designates a wind direction outside the 0 to 360 degree bounds. A value of 362 degrees refers to variable wind and 361 degrees refers to calm wind in COADS data. All of these values were flagged with the B flag by the preprocessor, but can be considered as reliable data values.


 



 

References:

Smith, S.R., C. Harvey, and D.M. Legler, 1996: Handbook of Quality Control Procedures
     and Methods for Surface Meteorology Data
.WOCE Report No. 141/96,Report WOCEMET
     96-1, Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies Florida State University,
     Tallahassee FL 32306-2840

da Silva, A.M., C.C. Young and S. Levitus, 1994: Atlas of Surface Marine Data 1994, Volume 1:
      Algorithms and Procedures.
NOAA Atlas Series.

Slutz, R.J., S.J. Lubker, J.D. Hiscox, S.D. Woodruff, R.L. Jenne, D.H. Joseph, P.M. Seurer and
       J.D. Elms, 1985: COADS - Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set,
      CIRES/ERL/NCAR/NCDC, Boulder, Colorado.