A Technique for Processing Noisy AXBT (Airborne Expendable Bathythermograph) Data.
Abstract
Extensive airborne expendable bathythermograph (AXBT) surveys are routinely conducted by the U.S. Navy. These surveys are often used to describe mesoscale variability, western boundary currents, or eddies. Quasisynoptic coverage of an oceanic region is possible with a single P-3 aircraft dropping AXBT's over a period of three to five full flight days. Temperature structure is attainable down to 400 m by using shallow probes and down to 800 m by using deep probes. Regional AXBT surveys often expend hundreds of AXBTs, and some of the profiles commonly contain considerable noise. Noise can originate from equipment malfunctions, electrical problems, radio interference, rough sea state, or weak radio signals (due to transmission range). Noisy profiles are often discarded or truncated because editing seems impossible or very costly. Much data, which were taken at considerable expense, are not processed. A procedure for processing such AXBT data is described. The technique is simple to apply. Very little user input control is required. Data editing is automatic and produces consistent editing, which is well defined. The technique is flexible and can be adapted to most AXBT data (whether or not the data are noisy).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA190639
Entities
People
- William J. Teague