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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Physical Oceanography
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1490548

Data mining-based machine learning methods for improving hydrological data: a case study of salinity field in the Western Arctic Ocean

Provisionally accepted
  • Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Beaufort Gyre is the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean. Long-term changes in freshwater reservoirs are critical for understanding the Arctic Ocean, and data from various sources, particularly observation or reanalysis data, must be used to the greatest extent possible. Over the past two decades, a large number of intensive field observations and ship surveys have been conducted in the western Arctic Ocean to obtain a large amount of CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth) data. Multi-machine learning methods were assessed and merged to reconstruct the annual salinity product in the Western Arctic Ocean over the period 2003-2022. Data mining-based machine learning methods make use of input variables determined by physical processes, such as sea level pressure, bathymetry, sea ice concentration, and sea ice drift. The root-mean-square error of sea surface salinity was effectively managed during machine learning, which exhibits higher sensitivity to variations in the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean compared to deep water salinity. Sea level pressure exerts a significant influence on the prediction of surface salinity, whereas sea ice concentration is critical for forecasting salinity at halocline depth. The main source of uncertainty comes from the processes of data-merging and post calibrating. The mean absolute errors in freshwater content and halocline depth within the Beaufort Gyre region for the salinity product from 2003 to 2022 are 0.98 m and 1.31 m, respectively, when compared to observational data. The salinity product provides reliable characterizations of freshwater content in the Beaufort Gyre and its variations at halocline depth. In polar regions where lacking observed data, we can build data mining-based machine learning methods to generate reliable data products to compensate for the inconvenience. Furthermore, the application potential of this multimachine learning results approach for evaluating and integrating extends beyond the salinity field, encompassing hydrometeorology, sea ice thickness, polar biogeochemistry, and other related fields.

    Keywords: salinity product, multi-machine learning, Data merging, post calibrating, Western Arctic Ocean

    Received: 03 Sep 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tao, Du and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ling Du, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.