The U.S. IOOS QARTOD Project Manual Updated

The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®) Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Real-Time Oceanographic Data (QARTOD) Project has updated the Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of Ocean Optics Observations, which includes variables such as in-water and above-water radiance and irradiance, beam attenuation, PAR (photosynthetically available radiation), and CDOM (colored dissolved organic matter).

This manual was first published in June 2015 as the seventh in a series of documents that offer guidance for ensuring the highest possible quality of real-time data and is also the seventh manual to be updated. The QARTOD Project updates quality control manuals every 2-3 years to ensure that content remains relevant and accurate.

Dr. Emmanuel Boss at the University of Maine’s In-situ Sound and Color Laboratory helped with both the original and updated manual. He says, “I’m happy to provide guidance that’s based upon knowledge gained over many years of deployments. It’s good to see these tests documented and maintained. I hope they help others develop optical monitoring capabilities.”

Mark Bushnell, the QARTOD Project Technical Coordinator, adds, “We’re very grateful for the ongoing support from the IOOS Program Office and experts such as Dr. Boss. In addition, we continue to be pleasantly surprised by the interest and use of the manuals by the international community. We recently learned that Australia is using this manual for their Southern Ocean Time Series optical observations!”

The content for this and other QARTOD data quality control manuals originates with a diverse community of ocean-observing experts with extensive knowledge of the variable being addressed. These experts include representatives of local, state, and federal governments in the U.S., as well as sensor manufacturers and academic institutions from the U.S. and abroad. They develop and review each QARTOD manual to ensure a usable document for data providers.

Manual content is subject to the approval of the U.S. IOOS Director, Project Manager, and QARTOD Board of Advisors. For more information about the U.S. IOOS QARTOD Project, click here.