============================== Email from Nikolai Maximenko : ============================== http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/~nikolai/ForJohnMarshall_1.dat.gz It's written as write(2,'(f7.3,f8.3,2f8.2,i5,2f9.2)') x,y,u,v,num,uu,vv The only difference from the previous file is two added columns containing and in (cm/s)^2, so that EKE = ( + )/2 . Please notice that EKE requires more data than , so that not all locations are good for the estimate. (For instance, if num = 0, ==0 .) Simple criterion that I would suggest to select bins with sufficient statistics is: - estimate the time that drifter typically spends within the bin: T = 0.25 * 111 km / || (||=sqrt(u^2+v^2) and u and v are in columns 3 and 4) (Other estimate can be sqrt(u^2+v^2+uu+vv). ) - estimate the number of independent measurements available for this bin N = num * 6 hours / T (num is in column 5) - select bins with N > N_0. I would expect that N_0 = 3 - 5 would give a pretty nice figure of the EKE. More accurate estimate of the "number of independent measurements" would require information on time scales of main processes at given locations (they are obviously different between the areas where ENSO or small eddies dominate) Comparison with the geostrophic velocities from satellite altimetry may require some extra caution, like: 1. To avoid biases due to nonuniform drifter ensemble, altimetry velocities should be averaged over the drifter times and locations. 2. Ekman velocities should be subtracted from drifter data. When doing qualitative, illustrative, comparison between drifters and altimetry these two issues can be considered as a potential sources of discrepancies. Good luck and Merry Christmas, Nikolai