Validation Evaluation of Computed Fields

Daily computed fields have been compared against bin-averaged (1/4° x 1/4° x daily) geochemical cruise datasets from 1997 through 2006 where sea surface carbonate chemistry parameters were measured. For pCO_2,sw this includes all the Explorer of the Seas datasets available from the NOAA AOML Global Carbon Cycle (GCC) Program. Cases where at least two carbonate chemistry parameters were measured permitting derivation of Ω_arg included the ACT Cruises (June, 1997), WOCE A22 (August, 1997; October, 2003), WOCE AR01 (February, 1998; also referred to as WOCE/WHP_A05_1998), selected Explorer of the Seas transects (March, 2003; May and August, 2005; November, 2006), and the ABACO Easter Boundary Current Cruise (March, 2006). The relative biases were than calculated as the difference between the computed pCO_2,sw, A_T, and Ω_arg values and the bin-averaged ship values. The relevant statistics are listed in table and box plots below.