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Salinity - 6 of 7
To generate a SATURN 01 salinity plot that includes data gathered throughout the water column requires a little more effort in Data Explorer.
1. Hover your cursor over the wrench icon and select "CLONE". This will create a new figure under the existing one utilizing all the same settings as the original.
2. Hover your cursor over the new figure's wrench icon and select "EDIT".
3. Click on the figure definition in the lower window to highlight it and click on "Remove series".
4. Select "SATURN-01" from the drop-down "Source" menu.
5. Select "Best available" from the Data quality drop-down menu.
6. Click on Salinity [CT] to highlight it, then "push" that variable into the "Colored by" window
Why didn't we put the salinity in the Y-axis window? Remember, all these salinity data are gathered from specific depths in the water column, and we want to include that information in our plot. The Y-axis window is where we want to "push" the depth data. But there is no "Depth" variable offered, right? Instead of depth, which can be a little hard to define when the surface of the estuary is moving up and down with the tides, we prefer to use "Pressure". So...
7. Push the variable "Pressure" into the Y-axis window.
8. Now click the "Add series" button to define your figure.
9. Click "Next" to set up the time range. What's that? It's exactly like your original figure? Oh that's right -- this figure is a clone of the original! Which means we are set to...
10. Click "Done".
This plot requires a little explanation -- notice that like the other plots you've seen, the x-axis is time, but the y-axis is no longer salinity, it's depth (well, really pressure). For these plots salinity is represented by the color. If you have trouble visualizing these data, imagine viewing the plot through a thin vertical slit in a piece of black paper. The colors visible through the slit will show the salinity from the bottom to the surface at that moment. While sliding the paper to the right the slit will reveal how the salinity changes through time. The red hills correspond with high tides, when salty ocean water floods into the estuary along the bottoms of the channels.
