The method consists in successively eliminating one measurement from the full data base and performing analyses with the remaining data. The variance of the misfits between these reconstructed fields and the corresponding eliminated data is then considered as a statistical indicator of the quality of the analysis. Figures illustrate the standard deviation of temperature and salinity observational error as a function of depth estimated by cross-validation of the seasonal data sets.
Figures show the same quantity for monthly analyses.
These figures have been computed from CTD and bottle data only because XBTs exhibit non-negligible instrumental error and must be considered separately.