Techniques for the Analysis of Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) Data with Applications to the South-Western Pacific Ocean.

Abstract : The expendable bathythermograph is a convenient and inexpensive tool for the measurement of ocean temperature structure. It does not measure salinity, but in many areas of the ocean it is reasonable to use standard temperature-salinity (T-S) curves to infer salinity from temperature measurements. T-S curves constructed from historical Nansen cast data are presented for 10 deg squares in the South-Western Pacific Ocean, covering the area from 15 deg S to 45 deg S, and from 150 deg E to 180 deg E. With a knowledge of both temperature and salinity structures a wide range of other parameters may be estimated, the most important of these being density, dynamic height and sound speed. Relationships for the computation of these and other properties of sea water are discussed, and computer programmes presented to calculate profiles of the relevant parameters from XBT data. (Author)