Review of  “In situ observations: processes and methods” by Uwe Send.

Group 5: La Londe Les Maures . 28 September 2004

This an interesting article giving a comprehensive overview of the existing platforms and methods for in situ observations. We have some suggestions on how to improve the article and make it more interesting and clear for the readers.

Content – more details on the characteristics of platforms and methods would improve the article. Figures in the manuscript require more discussion, as well as captions and proper references within the text.

Presentation – is it possible to give examples of application of various methods, probably with more figures (like in the presentation)?  More references to existing published work is also needed. 

Clarity – OK. Probably the flow of the explanation could be more detailed, with more accent on how different parts of the article relate to each other and what are implications.  Keeping in mind the general idea about relation of In situ – Satellite data – Models could help the explanation.

Apparently the article is not yet finished, conclusions and discussion, references etc are needed.

This article (and all articles in this future book) should definitely benefit from more comprehensive cross-referencing to other articles in the book.

Spell-checking of the manuscript would be welcome.  

PAGE 1
Though the abstract clearly shows what the article is about, the title of the article do not. In situ data for what? What processes it is about? Probably one of the versions of the title would be “In situ observations for operational oceanography: platforms and methods.”

Part 1. Second para – “The physical state ..” – if you know T and S you already know density (word density is redundant)

Next line – physical forcing at the surface – probably it is better to say on the boundaries (as it could be forcing at the liquid boundaries etc).

“elsewhere in this volume” – give proper reference.

PAGE 2

Section 1.1, second para – “At the minimum level..” – prove it or give reference.

PAGE 3
Last line – reference is needed, explanation of figure is missing.

PAGE 4. !st para – is the verb “ground-truthing” ok? Probably validating, calibrating or correcting?

“Heavy our power-hungy sensors are impossible” – sounds interesting, but the meaning is not clear at all.

Altimetry paragraph – the altimeter actually is not measuring anomalies. We may derive them afterwards.

Explain terms in the equation and other terms (Hdyn, Pref etc)

PAGE 5, 

second para, “giving too high mean” – the objective analysis techniques should correct this overestimation. 
Second para, last line  – explain the implication. 

Section 2.2, last line – give the name of the program.

PAGE 6. 

“Shps are becoming increasingly expensive” – it is not ships, but observations from ships are becoming more expensive.

“In research mode” – what exactly this means? Why only deploy and not making surveys? What other modes of ships are existing?

“For servicing” – what it exactly means?

XBT – explain limitation to temperature, why 800 m? Add comments on XBT precision to other profiling instruments. Any web page for XBT data?

PAGE 6.

Secong paragraph – split in two starting from “The concept of ecological..” Explain more why the concept of ecological provinces is necessary.

Gliders – “limited in terms of payload” – payload weight? Or something else?

PAGE 8

First para – explain, so where and for what purposes we can use gliders and where not?

Section 2.6 what is the current state of the once so fancy  acoustic tomography?
A figure for wave radar would be welcome (as in presentation).

PAGE 9. In black and white the figure is not clear. Remove cursor from figure. Is it original figure or taken from other source (give REF)?

PAGE 10
Header – Platform AND PRICE
Research vessels – change “sparse sampling” to “sparse global sampling”. If needed, ships can do a very detailed sampling in a specific region.
VOS – “along repeat tracks” – change to “along ship routes”
Surface drifter and floats – many of strengths and weaknesses are in fact common.
Surface drifters – add “velocity” to T, air pressure and S.

PAGE 11 (or 1) Explain the meaning of this paragraph and of the figure.

PAGE 12 (2) – more explanation is needed. What are conclusions?