Research vessel (R/V) data quality controlled by the RVSMDC have been used for several scientific applications. In addition, the R/V data provide an ideal test bed for new quality control (QC) techniques and to illustrate the importance of careful instrument installation and placement on a vessel.

  Earth-relative (true) winds are an essential quantity for many ocean and atmospheric applications. RVSMDC evaluation has shown this quantity to be poorly derived on a routine basis; therefore, guidelines and source code for correct true wind computation are provided.

  R/V meteorological observations have proven ideal for estimating uncertainties in open ocean turbulent fluxes produced by global climate models. In 2001, several authors from the WOCE SAC published an evaluation of uncertainties in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Future comparisons are planned.

  The advent of satellite scatterometry ushered in a new era of wind measurement over the open ocean. The WOCE DAC and the RVSMDC have provided high quality R/V observations for calibration/validation studies for both the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) and SeaWinds on QuikScat.

• NSCAT Calibration/Validation
• Sea winds Calibration/Validation

  R/V observations have been used to develop new automated techniques to identify spikes and other suspect data. The new techniques expand upon our earlier automated and visual QC (see handbook), making the RVSMDC QC more consistent and efficient for our data quality evaluators.

  New applications of R/V data to appear in the future.