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glossary - first crack

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Here's a start at the glossary. Watch out for ??? I didn't
know what some terms were refering to. 

I've only included terms that I've fussed with.

-Meghan



ADCP - Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler. An instrument
that measures ocean currents based on doppler shifts in backscattered
acoustic signals.

 

Anomaly - Difference between data and climatalogy. 


Climatology - Average conditions based on historical data. Seasonal 
climatologies represent best estimate of average conditions for each 
month (January through December). 


Current - Horizontal velocity of ocean flow


COARE - Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment. A process study
conducted in the West Pacific (~156E) in the early 1990's.


Data averaging intervals -  ??? 

     Monthly - Average of daily data collected during each month. 
     5-Day - Average of daily data collected during consecutive five day 
intervals, and subsequently smoothed with a 1-2-1 filter.  (???)
     Daily - Average of highest resolution data collected each day. 



Data Locations - The TAO/TRITON buoys are deployed in an array from 8 degrees 
North to 8 degrees South, 137 degrees East to 95
degrees West in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Data is identified by the 
nominal location where it was collected, e.g., 5N refers to measurements at
5 degrees North latitude, across the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, 140W identifies 
measurements taken at 140 degrees West longitude,
generally from 8 degrees North to 8 degrees South latitude. EQ or EQUA 
identifies data at the Equator. A buoy location is sometimes
referred to as a site. 


Mean - Time averaged data 


Ocean Measured - Data directly from ocean sensors such as thermisters and 
current meters.      <<< ??? WHAT KIND OF A TERM IS THIS?



Sampling - Temporal and spatial resolution of data. 


Surface Met - Meteorological data from the sea surface including SST, AIRT, 
winds, RH, precipitation and shortwave radiation. Standard surface
meteorological data include SST, AIRT, winds, and RH.  ????


Transport - Volume of ocean water moving through an imaginary surface per 
second. Often computed as a transport per unit width
from a single buoy by integrating the ocean currents over a range of depth in 
the upper ocean. Transport units are Sverdrup (1 Sverdrup = 10^6 m^3/s).

 
TZ-AVE - Depth Averaged Temperature, measured by the TAO buoys from the surface 
to 300m depth. ????


T1, T2, ...., T10 - Subsurface temperatures measured by the TAO buoys. Standard 
instrument depths for ATLAS sites are listed below:
DEPTHS (m)
         Table...
                   

Instrument depths for current-meter sites on the equator at 156°E, 165°E, 140°W, 
110°W,are different from the above, and have
varied over time. For graphical info on instrument depths, see the TAO timelines 
page. In NetCDF files used for web displays,
temperatures have been regridded to the above standard depths. 



Z20 -  Depth at which ocean temperature is twenty degrees Celsius. 


 

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  Meghan Cronin                         e-mail:  cronin@pmel.noaa.gov
  NOAA PMEL Bldg #3                     phone:   206-526-6449
  7600 Sand Point Way NE                fax:     206-526-6744
  Seattle, WA 98115 USA
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