Ocean temperature observations are crucial for a host of climate research and forecasting activities, such as climate monitoring, ocean reanalysis and state estimation, seasonal-to-decadal forecasts, and ocean forecasting. For all of these applications, it is crucial to understand the uncertainty attached to each of the observations, accounting for changes in instrument technology and observing practices over time. Here, we describe the rationale behind the uncertainty specification provided for all in situ ocean temperature observations in the International Quality-controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD) v0.1, a value-added data product served alongside the World Ocean Database (WOD). We collected information from manufacturer specifications and other publications, providing the end user with uncertainty estimates based mainly on instrument type, along with extant auxiliary information such as calibration and collection method. The provision of a consistent set of observation uncertainties will provide a more complete understanding of historical ocean observations used to examine the changing environment. Moving forward, IQuOD will continue to work with the ocean observation and climate study community to further refine uncertainty quantification and we encourage submissions of metadata and information about historical practices to the IQuOD project.

中文翻译：

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国际质量控制海洋数据库（IQuOD）v0.1：温度不确定性规范

海洋温度观测对于许多气候研究和预报活动至关重要，例如气候监测，海洋再分析和状态估计，季节到十年的预报以及海洋预报。对于所有这些应用，至关重要的是要了解每个观测值所带来的不确定性，并考虑仪器技术的变化以及随着时间的推移观测方法的变化。在这里，我们描述了国际质量控制海洋数据库（IQuOD）v0.1中为所有原位海洋温度观测提供的不确定性规范背后的理由，该数据库是与世界海洋数据库（WOD）一起提供的增值数据产品。我们从制造商的规范和其他出版物中收集了信息，主要根据仪器类型为最终用户提供了不确定性估算，以及现有的辅助信息，例如校准和收集方法。提供一套一致的观测不确定性将提供对用于检查变化中的环境的历史海洋观测的更完整的理解。展望未来，IQuOD将继续与海洋观测和气候研究界合作，以进一步完善不确定性量化，我们鼓励向IQuOD项目提交有关历史实践的元数据和信息。