Atmospheric analysis

NIWA has been using advanced scientific instruments to measure atmospheric trace gases and isotopes for over 50 years.

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    Technical Note No. 98/3 - Task 2 (Time Series) Explained; A Warning About "Water Depth"

    Technical Note No. 98/3 - Task 2 (Time Series) Explained; A Warning About "Water Depth" When deployed in still water (i.e. no waves), DOBIE experiences a total pressure that is composed of two parts: one part due to the weight of the overlying water (hydrostatic pressure) and another part due to the weight of the overlying atmosphere (atmospheric pressure). When waves are present there is yet another, fluctuating, pressure component that is due to the waves.
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    Technical Note No. 98/4 - Task 3 (Tide Gauge) Explained

    Technical Note No. 98/4 - Task 3 (Tide Gauge) Explained When deployed in still water (i.e. no waves), DOBIE experiences a total pressure that is composed of two parts: one part due to the weight of the overlying water (hydrostatic pressure) and another part due to the weight of the overlying atmosphere (atmospheric pressure). When waves are present there is yet another, fluctuating, pressure component that is due to the waves.
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    Technical Note No. 98/5 - Task 4/0 (Wave Statistics) Explained; Plus an Explanation of "Reality Checks"

    Technical Note No. 98/5 - Task 4/0 (Wave Statistics) Explained; Plus an Explanation of "Reality Checks" All wave statistics are calculated from burst time series of "hydrostatic water depth", h(t), which are related to raw pressure time series, p(t), by:
    where g is acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s2), r is water density and F is a factor (6895 kg/[s2m]/psi) used to convert pressure in pounds per square inch to pressure in kg/(s2m). For this calculation, DOBIE assumes the water density to be 1025 kg/m3 (which is a typical seawater density).
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    Technical Note No. 98/6 - Task 4/1 (Wave Spectrum) Explained

    Technical Note No.
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    Technical Note No. 98/1 - At What Depth Should DOBIE be Deployed?

    Technical Note No. 98/1 - At What Depth Should DOBIE be Deployed? To answer the question, we need to explain what DOBIE actually measures and how waves exert pressure at depth. DOBIE measures pressure. In still water, the pressure experienced at depth is composed of two parts: hydrostatic pressure, which is due to the weight of the overlying water and which is proportional to the height of the water column above the observer, and atmospheric pressure, which is due to the weight of the atmosphere.
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    Technical Note No. 99/1 - Measuring Waves in Lakes and Estuaries is Quite Tricky, data can be Improved by Adjusting Sensor Noise Level

    Technical Note No. 99/1 - Measuring Waves in Lakes and Estuaries is Quite Tricky, data can be Improved by Adjusting Sensor Noise Level
    It sounds paradoxical, but the most difficult task when measuring waves (Task 4/0 or Task 4/1) is knowing when there aren't any! The danger is that sensor noise - not real signal - gets transformed into estimates of wave height, which will be wrong. The "reality checks" applied by DOBIE have been described in a previous Technical Note, and these are meant to catch those bursts where sensor noise has been (incorrectly) transformed.
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    Technical Note No. 2000/1 - Conversion of Hydrostatic-Depth Spectrum to Sea-Surface-Elevation Spectrum

    Technical Note No. 2000/1 - Conversion of Hydrostatic-Depth Spectrum to Sea-Surface-Elevation Spectrum Since the release of version 19.5, PEDP reports beside each spectral estimate Sh(f) when processing Task 4/1 spectra. is defined as:
    where z* is the depth of DOBIE below mean water level, is the mean water depth and k is the wavenumber corresponding to f, the frequency of the spectral estimate.
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    Mobile air quality monitoring trailers

    NIWA's mobile air quality monitoring trailers contain equipment capable of measuring a range of key air contaminants and meteorological parameters.
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    Multi Channel Seismic (MCS) System

    Modern marine geoscience requires accurate and detailed subsurface information for the mapping of geologic structures and sedimentary sequences beneath the continental margin. In order to acquire this information NIWA purchased a Multi Channel Seismic system (MCS) in December 1996, consisting of a 24 channel streamer, seismic source and acquisition hardware. 
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    Transmission versus wavelength

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    NIWA UV spectrometer systems

    NIWA has been engaged in an active UV research programme since the 1980s. The cornerstone of this work is the routine accurate measurement of the spectrum of surface UV irradiance to quantify UV climatologies, to understand the causes of UV variability (temporally and spatially), and to monitor long-term changes.
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    Fibre relocation errors

    Sometimes it is neccessary to disconnect fibre and diffuser. Reconnection can cause a change in the diffuser-fibre distance, which could lead to errors in previous calibrations. Thermal expansion can also be a reason for a changing diffuser-fibre distance .
    The following graph shows the change in photomultiplier signal due to a changing fibre distance.
    When the fibre is relocated with care relocation errors are around 0.1mm.