Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Real-Time Oceanographic Data

The Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Real-Time Oceanographic Data (QARTOD) project was formally adopted in 2012 as a part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Data Management and Communication (DMAC) system. A well-established process has resulted in eight manuals that provide specific quality control tests for a variety of U.S. IOOS core variables of interest. Specifically, the manuals address quality control (QC) for observations of dissolved oxygen, currents, waves, water levels, winds, temperature and salinity, ocean optics, and dissolved nutrients. Regional Associations within the U.S. are now working toward implementing these test procedures, which are also being incorporated by international ocean-observing organizations, the private sector, and manufacturers developing sensor improvements. The manuals are initially drafted and reviewed by a committee of subject matter experts. The resulting draft is distributed to the U.S. Regional Associations for a second round of reviews, followed by a third review from the wider international community. As such, the manuals represent the best processes desired by those who will implement the tests. An important aspect of the tests is the selection of thresholds and other test criteria by local operators, who are in the best position to understand and determine such limits. The tests are neither overly prescriptive nor overly generic and are designed to support a wide range of sensors and operator capabilities. Tests are identified as required, strongly recommended, or suggested, with test results falling into one of three categories: pass, suspect/of high interest, or fail. Test examples are provided in the manuals, and the instructions are sufficiently explicit for a programmer to use them to write software code for automated QC processes. The manuals are living documents. They are updated as the QARTOD project evolves and as input is received from operators, data users, and manufacturers. The dissolved oxygen, waves, and currents manuals received updates in 2015.