Discrete pressure measurements can nearly eliminate XBT depth errors

What is it about?

XBT depth biases are the highest source of uncertainty in global ocean heat content estimates. Here we use co-located XBT and CTD data to estimate how many and how much can the depth biases be reduced by knowing the pressure at determined points in the profile.

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Why is it important?

The highest error in XBT data comes from depth biases, since XBTs do not measure depth directly but infer from a fall rate equation. We show that one or two pressure switches can reduce considerably the depth errors.