THE TREATMENT OF INCONSISTENCIES IN ATLANTIC DEEP-WATER SALINITY DATA

Salinity biases between hydrographic cruises are known to have occurred, and it has been recommended that the uniform characteristics of the basins east of the Mid-Atlantic ridge be used to discern measurement differences between cruises to the region. That approach was used with two high quality north-south eastern Atlantic expeditions (Oceanus Cruise 202 [''McTT''] and South Atlantic Ventilation Experiment [''SAVE''] Leg III), to construct a reference to assess the salinity differences between IGY cruises from the 1950s and some more recent expeditions compared to that reference. Tables of salinity differences were prepared so that one may make adjustments to data sets when mapping any characteristic that is sensitive to relative salinity errors, such as computed geostrophic currents, or when mapping any characteristic on density surfaces.