Thermal Mass Correction for the Evaluation of Salinity

What is it about?

This paper revisits the thermal mass inertia correction of Sea Bird Electronics SBE 4SBE4 conductivity probes for the calculation of salinity. In particular, it is shown that the standard parameters recommended for the correction method are not satisfactory for the data collected during recent campaigns at sea. A method, based on Morison et al (1994), is proposed to determine optimal values from selected datasets. Values valid for the general case are then proposed yielding significant improvements in the reduction of salinity errors which occur during the upcasts and downcasts of CTD profilers in sharp thermoclines areas. The sources of the differences found between recommended coefficient values and the ones proposed here are also discussed.

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