Quality Control and Tilt Correction Effects on the Turbulent Fluxes Observed at an Ocean Platform

Abstract

This study investigates atmospheric factors influencing the quality and the postprocessing (e.g., tilt correction) of fast-response measurements of turbulent fluxes for difficult open-sea measurements over an offshore platform. The data were collected at the Ieodo Ocean Research Station over the Yellow Sea during the period from 5 November 2007 to 19 February 2008. The quality control removal of the data generally depends on wind speed, relative humidity, significant wave height, visibility, and stability. The removal of substantial water vapor data with weak-wind stable conditions is investigated. Three different tilt correction algorithms (double rotation, triple rotation, and planar fit) are applied to correct the data because of inadvertent tilt of sonic anemometers. The choice of tilt correction method significantly influences the angle between the wind and stress direction.