CO2 and hydrography acquired by autonomous surface vehicles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea: Data correction and validation

The ATL2MED demonstration experiment involved two autonomous surface vehicles from Saildrone Inc. (SD) which travelled a route from the eastern tropical North Atlantic to the Adriatic Sea between October 2019 and July 2020 (see Table A6). This 9-month experiment in a transition zone between the temperate and tropical belts represents a major challenge for the SD's operations. The sensors on board were exposed to varying degrees of degradation and biofouling depending on the geographical area and season, which led to a deterioration in the measurements. As a result, some maintenance measures were required during the mission. We address the difficulty of correcting the data during a period of COVID-19 restrictions, which significantly reduced the number of discrete samples planned for the SD salinity and dissolved oxygen validation. This article details alternative correction methods for salinity and dissolved oxygen. Due to the lack of in situ data, model products have been used to corr...