Processing of ADCP measurements collected in beam coordinates from Teledyne Workhorse ADCP now possible in latest release of the IMOS MATLAB Toolbox, plus faster vertical mapping corrections, new and improved QC tests and additional tables for down-looking ADCP samples.
The IMOS MATLAB Toolbox is one of the tools used by scientists to publish their data through the AODN Portal. The software is a key aspect in data processing and conversion between raw ocean instrument data to quality controlled and ready to use netCDF files.
The Toolbox – Version 2.6.13 (https://github.com/aodn/imos-toolbox/releases) now includes new and updated processing features related to ocean velocity measurements obtained by Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP). They work by emitting sound waves and measuring their intensity (acoustic backscattering) and change of frequency (doppler shift) as the sound beams propagate in the water. The nature of the sampling – along acoustic beams – together with the different models, manufacturers, and deployment types guarantee a complex chain of coordinate transformations and processing for these measurements.
The main feature of the toolbox release is the ability to now read and process Teledyne Workhorse ADCPs measurements from raw acoustic beams to positionally and geographically corrected velocity components (Eastward, Northward, Upward). Before, operators storing the original data (beam coordinates) had no means to proper quality control it and convert it to Earth coordinates within the toolbox.
The feature is convenient to scientists since it provides a streamlined processing of raw data, more control, and reproducibility features. It also puts the toolbox in feature parity with other supported manufacturer instruments.
Additionally, the software now contains updated earth magnetic declination tables for geographic velocity corrections and can quality control down-looking ADCPs samples. Other new features involve faster vertical mapping corrections, new and improved quality control tests.
Finally, the release contains a considerable amount of bug fixes and ever-increasing test coverage.
More information about the ADCP conversions and the changes in quality control is on our wiki page (https://github.com/aodn/imos-toolbox/wiki/RDI and https://github.com/aodn/imos-toolbox/wiki/QCProcedures)
The complete list of changes can be found in the IMOS Toolbox GitHub repository here.
The development of the IMOS toolbox is maintained by staff at the Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) and the IMOS National Mooring Network facility. The Toolbox is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3. We welcome user review and contribution back to the Toolbox – visit us at GitHub (https://github.com/aodn/imos-toolbox) or send us a pull request.
Thank you to AODN Project Officer Hugo Bastos de Oliveira who filled the role of primary toolbox maintainer for the past 3 years. He has left AODN to pursue other opportunities and we expect a 3-4 month pause in toolbox activity while we undergo our recruitment process.
For additional information about the release of the IMOS Toolbox version 2.6.13 or to participate in the IMOS Toolbox working group please contact us at info(at)aodn.org.au.