Dynamic height
- 660,543
- values
- 0
- flagged
- 9,274
- sampling events
- 1993–2026
- years
- 1
- dataset
- 1–3,630 m
- depth
- Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
- seasons
CalCOFI holds 660,543 values of it from 9,274 sampling events in one dataset, 1993–2026, from the surface to 3,630 m. At 200–500 m it has fallen 0.01 per decade since 1993.R Dynamic height is the tilt of the sea surface the currents balance: mapped across the CalCOFI grid it is how the California Current and the Undercurrent were first described season by season.C
other ways to say why · 2
- It is computed from temperature and salinity down a cast, so it carries whatever those two series carry. needs a citation before it can be the pick
- Wikipedia A geostrophic current is an oceanic current in which the pressure gradient force is balanced by the Coriolis effect. The direction of geostrophic flow is parallel to the isobars, with the high pressure to the right of the flow in the Northern Hemisphere, and the high pressure to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Geostrophic current · CC BY-SA 4.0 · rev. 1344173703
The measurement
Measured in i
One row per series, one cell per year, darker with more values — the same strip the front
door draws per dataset and a species page draws per taxon. Each row is one dataset's own
measurement_type; the label is written once, in the title above.
i
One row per series, one cell per year, darker with more values — the same strip the front door draws per dataset and a species page draws per taxon. Each row is one dataset's own measurement_type; the label is written once, in the title above.
-
series
dynamic_height· source columndyn_ht· flag columndyn_ht_qno P01 concept
How it is measured
A derived hydrographic quantity computed from the cast profile, not sensed directly. (the record's own derivation (measurement_type.csv))
Why it matters
The familiar scale i
Bars are each series' 5th–95th percentile, the line its minimum to maximum, the ring its median;
the marks are metadata/measurement_scale.csv's, each hovering to its own source.
i
Bars are each series' 5th–95th percentile, the line its minimum to maximum, the ring its median;
the marks are metadata/measurement_scale.csv's, each hovering to its own source.
The record’s own history i
Deeper than the climatology reaches: 3,237 values at 2000+ m have no
normal to depart from, because the release’s climatology stops at its
deepest built bin. Carrying it to the bottom is one argument of
build_climatology() and puts these bands on the page too.
i
Deeper than the climatology reaches: 3,237 values at 2000+ m have no
normal to depart from, because the release’s climatology stops at its
deepest built bin. Carrying it to the bottom is one argument of
build_climatology() and puts these bands on the page too.
The record
Ways in i
Read from measurements.json of release
v2026.10.14, written at release by
calcofi4db::build_measurements_catalog() beside
taxa.json. The catalog's index is
/measurements/; the JSON-LD on this page is a
schema.org/DefinedTerm in the NERC P01 term set with a
PropertyValue per series.
ExplorerExplorer · a depth section vs normaldb-queryi
Read from measurements.json of release v2026.10.14, written at release by calcofi4db::build_measurements_catalog() beside taxa.json. The catalog's index is /measurements/; the JSON-LD on this page is a schema.org/DefinedTerm in the NERC P01 term set with a PropertyValue per series.
SELECT * FROM read_json('…/v2026.10.14/catalog.json')
-- objects[] WHERE table = 'obs_env'
-- AND partition_value = 'dynamic_height'library(calcofi4r)
con <- cc_get_db() # the promoted release
tbl(con, "obs_env") |> filter(measurement_type %in% c("dynamic_height"))import calcofi4py as cc
con = cc.cc_get_db()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM obs_env WHERE measurement_type IN ('dynamic_height')").df()By depth i
Values per depth band at the release grain, one thin bar per series. The bands are the
record's own (0-10 … 2000+ m).
i
Values per depth band at the release grain, one thin bar per series. The bands are the record's own (0-10 … 2000+ m).
By month i
Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in
the months the ships sail.
i
Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in the months the ships sail.
Range & quality
details
- bounds
- The registry declares
-50 … 50 dyn mfordynamic_height; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()). - observed
- CTD Cast Files
dynamic_height-17.72 · median 0.4987 · 20.38 dyn m (5th–95th percentile 0.0624–1.006) - flags
- CTD Cast Files
dynamic_heightcarries no quality code at the release grain (its source column isdyn_ht_q); qual_ok keeps all 660,543. - baseline
- A monthly climatology exists for this measurement (the release's climatology table: 1993–2013, dataset × station × the cruise's month × 10 m bin), so the Explorer can draw anomalies against it rather than values.
Cite
Cite the release; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page — CTD Cast Files. The Explorer's Share → Cite writes it for the view you make.