Important notice to Argo users (pressure offset errors)

List of the suspicious floats http://www-argo.ucsd.edu/fsi_wmo_list.txt

It has just been learned that Argo profiles from SOLO floats with FSI CTD (Argo Program WHOI) may have incorrect pressure values. Profile data may be offset upward by one or more pressure levels, resulting in a significant cold bias for these instruments. Problematic floats are mostly in the Atlantic Ocean (198 out of the 211 presently active FSI SOLO instruments). The problem does not affect any other combination of instrument and sensor. That is, SOLO SBE, PROVOR (FSI or SBE), APEX and all other instrument combinations are unaffected. In GTS TESAC messages, potentially affected instruments can be identified by instrument type 852 (SOLO FSI, see WMO Code Table 1770). The problem is presently being analyzed, and once the detailed nature is understood, further information regarding identification and/or correction (if possible) of affected profiles will be provided. Please subscribe to the Argo Data Management mailing list ( argo-dm@jcommops.org , see http://argo.jcommops.org ) if you want updates.
 

Users are advised they should either exclude all SOLO FSI data from analyses or apply other quality control measures appropriate to their specific application. As a reminder, near real-time (R/T) Argo data are subjected to only coarse, automated quality control procedures. The Argo project endeavors to provide the best quality data possible, but R/T data may contain errors and should be used with due caution. For full documentation of the Argo data system, see http://www.coriolis.eu.org/cdc/argo_rfc.htm