Biogeochemical Argo Delayed-Mode Quality Control (DMQC) Webinar Schedule

The BGC-Argo DMQC Webinar Sessions are hosted once every ~2 months with the purpose of presenting topics including new DMQC resources and tools, unique cases of BGC DMQC, and more. These sessions also provide a space for interactive discussions and community learning about BGC DMQC.

Do you have a question, idea, or want to host a session?

Let us know by emailing Nicola at nicolag@mbari.org

 

Upcoming Schedule

Our next informal office hour sessions will be hosted on Thursday, Sept. 10.  There will be two sessions, one at 7:00 A.M. PT and another at 5:00 P.M. PT, to expand the reach to different time zones.  Feel free to attend one or both, and come prepared with floats and questions!

The goal of these sessions is to focus on floats caught in global audits.  Our last virtual session in early August went over some recent advancements made in the DOXY, Nitrate and pH audits and also demonstrated a new web app tool for visualizing audit catches.  Other resources, including slides or recordings from virtual sessions, can be found below.

Sept. 10th
7 a.m. PT
5 p.m. PT		 Informal Office Hours – Audit Edition
Just like our normal informal office hours sessions, but geared towards questions/floats caught in the global audits! Contact Nicola at nicolag@mbari.org for Zoom link.
October 12th-16th ADMT27 – Brest, France

Registration for ADMT is open until September 13th, 2026!

Register here!
Early Dec EasyOneArgo
Annie Wong (SIO) will lead us through a discussion looking at EasyOneArgo!

Virtual BGC DMQC sessions

List of available files to download

First
Session 1: Introduction to the bgcArgoDMQC toolbox, a python package for DMQC

The bgcArgoDMQC toolbox was developed to create a package for performing delayed-mode quality control (DMQC) on BGC Argo data using Python.  Chris Gordon (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) discusses some of the framework of Argo Canada’s BGC Argo data processing and current capabilities of the toolbox for the DMQC of dissolved oxygen (DOXY).  Harmut Frenzel (UW-CICOES) continues the discussion with goals and future work to pursue including Nitrate and pH to the parameters for DMQC by the bgcArgoDMQC toolbox.

Session 2: BGC-Argo Data in Hurricane Idalia

Madison Soden (UM) discussed the delayed-mode quality control practices for a float the encountered a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.  This unique dataset presented some unique challenges for DMQC, including with oxygen and nitrate.  Madison spends time describing the implemented correction methods, and opens the conversation to all attendees to think collaboratively on the quality of nitrate.  This case study demonstrates both the unique capabilities of BGC Argo Floats as well as the value of sharing tools, best practices and other BGC DMQC knowledge.

Session 3: Best Practices for Applying a Gain to Nitrate during DMQC

While the default gain to apply the Nitrate during DMQC is 1, there are circumstances in which applying a gain less than 1 can improve the overall quality of Nitrate data.  The MBARI Data team describes the Nitrate DMQC process and uncertainties to demonstrate why a gain may be necessary and how it can be applied.  The team shares their best practices, suggested guidelines, and examples of when/when not to apply a Nitrate gain.

Session 4: Performing DOXY DMQC in the Peruvian Oxygen Minimum Zone

As the biogeochemical argo fleet has grown, more floats have begun to get deployed in unique regions and seasons.  DMQC depends on good quality reference data, but the in-situ measurements of oxygen in a unique region like the Peruvian Oxygen Minimum Zone are difficult due to inaccuracies at such low oxygen concentrations.  Virginie Racapé and Catherine Schmechtig discuss a case study where a float was deployed in this region and needed additional adjustment and checks in order to accurately quality control DOXY from the float.

Session 5: The DMQC Workflow of BGC Argo Data at the Australian Data Assembly Center (DAC)

Inspired by the first session where attendees were given insight into Argo Canada’s BGC Argo data processing, Christina Shallenberg (CSIRO) demonstrates the data processing and workflow for the Australian DAC.  Through this presentation, she describes workflow priorities, DMQC methods step-by-step, challenges experienced and future goals for improving BGC DMQC.

Session 6: Introduction to webODV for exploring BGC Argo Data

Divided over two parts, Sebastian Mieruch (AWI) performs a live demo of webODV, providing instruction on the embedded tools, types of plots, data access portals, and other resources available to users.  With each demonstration of the technical capabilities of the web-application, Nicola Guisewhite (MBARI) provided an example using those capabilities applied to different examples of BGC Argo data.

Session 7: Introduction to SageV2, a Matlab GUI for the DMQC of Nitrate and pH

Many people use the SOCCOM Assessment and Graphical Evaluation (SAGE) GUI for the DMQC of Nitrate and pH.  Recent updates to this tool have resulted in the release of SAGE Version 2 (SageV2).  During this session, the MBARI Data Team describes why an updated version was necessary, where major improvements were made, and how to use SageV2 compared to the original SAGE.

Session 8: Improvements to Under Ice Positions

Many BGC Argo Floats are designed to be able to collect profiles of data underneath sea-ice.  However, while under ice, floats can not obtain an exact GPS location.  GPS positions are important to BGC DMQC, and thus it is important to improve our methods of how these fixes are estimated for data processing.  Cecile Cabanes (CNRS) shares work exploring methods for improving under-ice positions in the arctic, demonstrates how the adjusted positions are found, and provides examples of how improved algorithms can be applied.

Session 9: Global Audit Improvements and Available Resources for addressing audit catches

The MBARI Data Team performs global audits on oxygen, nitrate and pH and is looking to expand these audits to help improve BGC Argo data quality globally.  Tanya Maurer (MBARI) describes the history, successes, and shortcomings of these audits.  Nick Bock (MBARI) follows this with an explanation of audit improvements, a discussion of the new categorizing schema for audit catches, and demonstrations of the new Cycle Audit web-app which helps filter, visualize and compare audit catches.  MBARI is looking for community feedback on the app as well as how to best share audit catches with the global community.