1. QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR OBSERVED DATA

All the data are first reformatted at a common unique format : the auto descriptive (ASCII) MEDATLAS format which include information on the experimental conditions when available (meta-data). 

The reformatted data are then submitted to  automatic/objective and visual/subjective checks according to the International recommendations from IOC, MAST and ICES. These checks are performed on each profile separately and also on profiles grouped by cruises. As a result, a quality flag is assigned to each numerical value. In case of outlier on recent data sets, the originator is contacted to validate/correct/eliminate the value.

The list of checks is detailed in the MEDATLAS protocol  developed in this task  under the co-ordination of  ICES (http://www.ices.dk/).  

The principle of the QC of any parameter is to compare the observations with the available statistics of the same parameter. These statistics vary from a region to another, and the checks are adjusted accordingly..

The Quality checks are performed in REGIONAL QUALIFICATION CENTRES (Task II)

Western Basin - IEO Data Centre (http://www.ieo.es/medar/)
Central Basin - INOGS Data Centre (http://doga.ogs.trieste.it/medar)
Eastern Basin - NCMR/HNODC (http://hnodc.ncmr.gr/proj_med2.html)
Black Sea - RIHMI-WDC (http://www.meteo.ru/nodc/project/project.htm)

2. QUALIFICATION CENTRES FOR GRIDDED PRODUCTS

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