Computational Method to Quantify the Evolution of Ocean Properties

Understanding the recent trends in observable changes of the ocean physical and chemical properties is of great importance in order to foresee their future evolution and to quantify the probable contribution of anthropogenic pressure to these changes. For that matter, it is necessary to consider new methods and concepts for the analysis and modelling of ocean properties. In this paper, we introduce an original set of computational tools to process data measurements in order to study the evolution of some ocean properties. The method will be utilized to thoroughly analyze the evolution of an ocean property through a given period of time and in a whole water column by comparing its values at a given space/time coordinate to a well-defined reference value. Results will be exploited to emphasize the so-called spreadability phenomenon. Some insight will be given on the spreadability concept, based on systems theory. The ocean property that was chosen for the application presented in this paper was salinity, using data from the DYFAMED program for the period 1994-2010. Other analysis aspects could be studied using the proposed method.