130
sections centered on the antenna. Coupled transponder, GPS, and antennae and are
physically walked along the beach around the Rx antenna or deployed aboard a
small vessel or aerial drone. Periodic antenna pattern tests are recommended especially if electromagnetic anomalies in the vicinity of the antenna are variable. Ships
arriving and departing from port are an example. Measured patterns improve accuracy as objectively determined through graphical superposition and root mean
square statistical analysis (Corredor et al. 2011) when field validated with Eulerian
current meters and/or tidal current predictions.
Model validation may be performed comparing the performance of different
models such as the tests employed by Chen et al. (2007) demonstrating superior
performance of FVCOM implemented on an unstructured grid compared to POM
and its derivative ECOM-si implemented on the structured curvilinear coordinate
transformations. Haldivogel et al. (2008) apply Willmott’s index of agreement (one
to zero) to ROMS simulations of the tidal estuary of the Hudson River paired to
instrumental data from bottom mounts and tight wire mooring arrays and hydrographic surveys along the estuary achieving average indices about 0.8. For wave
models, data from wave measuring buoys within the data domain are often used.
Anselmi-Molina et al. (2012) use RMSE and Willmott’s index of agreement to validate the operational CariCOOS implementation of SWAN in nearshore waters of
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with reference to buoy data.
Willmott and collaborator’s recent criticism of the use of RMSE (Wilmott et al.
2017 and references therein) bears consideration since they argue that squaring
each error often alters – sometimes substantially – the relative influence of individual errors on the error total.
7.4 Ocean Observing Databases
Observing systems store data at local servers and submit copies to central storage
facilities adhering to strict formatting, query, and delivery protocols. Distributed
sensor network data sets are accompanied by information known as the metadata,
descriptors of the data itself. Primary data is digitized to binary code but such ancillary metadata information includes descriptive text of temporal and spatial data
such as date, time, latitude, longitude, and depth as well as instrument information
such as calibration coefficients. The UNICODE consortium, a not-for-profit corporation, offers a unique means of identifying non-numeric text through UNICODE, a
set of unique digital descriptors of language characters and symbols. One wellknown character subset supported by UNICODE is the American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII) which encodes the first 128 UNICODE characters.
Computer keyboards in English and other Latin script languages are encoded in
ASCII. Most other worldwide character sets (e.g., Cyrillic or Arabic) are further
encoded within UNICODE as well as a large number of grammar, syntax, and typesetting instructions.
7 Coastal Ocean Observing Data Quality Assurance and Quality Control, Data…
sections centered on the antenna. Coupled transponder, GPS, and antennae and are
physically walked along the beach around the Rx antenna or deployed aboard a
small vessel or aerial drone. Periodic antenna pattern tests are recommended especially if electromagnetic anomalies in the vicinity of the antenna are variable. Ships
arriving and departing from port are an example. Measured patterns improve accuracy as objectively determined through graphical superposition and root mean
square statistical analysis (Corredor et al. 2011) when field validated with Eulerian
current meters and/or tidal current predictions.
Model validation may be performed comparing the performance of different
models such as the tests employed by Chen et al. (2007) demonstrating superior
performance of FVCOM implemented on an unstructured grid compared to POM
and its derivative ECOM-si implemented on the structured curvilinear coordinate
transformations. Haldivogel et al. (2008) apply Willmott’s index of agreement (one
to zero) to ROMS simulations of the tidal estuary of the Hudson River paired to
instrumental data from bottom mounts and tight wire mooring arrays and hydrographic surveys along the estuary achieving average indices about 0.8. For wave
models, data from wave measuring buoys within the data domain are often used.
Anselmi-Molina et al. (2012) use RMSE and Willmott’s index of agreement to validate the operational CariCOOS implementation of SWAN in nearshore waters of
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with reference to buoy data.
Willmott and collaborator’s recent criticism of the use of RMSE (Wilmott et al.
2017 and references therein) bears consideration since they argue that squaring
each error often alters – sometimes substantially – the relative influence of individual errors on the error total.
7.4 Ocean Observing Databases
Observing systems store data at local servers and submit copies to central storage
facilities adhering to strict formatting, query, and delivery protocols. Distributed
sensor network data sets are accompanied by information known as the metadata,
descriptors of the data itself. Primary data is digitized to binary code but such ancillary metadata information includes descriptive text of temporal and spatial data
such as date, time, latitude, longitude, and depth as well as instrument information
such as calibration coefficients. The UNICODE consortium, a not-for-profit corporation, offers a unique means of identifying non-numeric text through UNICODE, a
set of unique digital descriptors of language characters and symbols. One wellknown character subset supported by UNICODE is the American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII) which encodes the first 128 UNICODE characters.
Computer keyboards in English and other Latin script languages are encoded in
ASCII. Most other worldwide character sets (e.g., Cyrillic or Arabic) are further
encoded within UNICODE as well as a large number of grammar, syntax, and typesetting instructions.
7 Coastal Ocean Observing Data Quality Assurance and Quality Control, Data…