Split and Merge Algorithm Usage
In rLakeAnalyzer: Lake Physics Tools

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library(rLakeAnalyzer)
library(knitr)

Split and merge algorithm

Water column identification is provided by the split-and-merge algorithm. Implementation of the split-and-merge algorithm for a water profile occurs within the wtr.layer() function:

Simple application of the split and merge algorithm

Below is a simple one profile example of determining key water column parameters using the split-and-merge algorithm. The default behaviour for wtr.layer is to run the algorithm without specifying the number of segments. wtr.layer() adopt as defaults the convention of a minimum depth (z0) of 2.5 m, a maximum depth (zmax) of 150 m and a error threshold (thres) of 0.1.

data("latesummer")
wldf <- wtr.layer(depth = latesummer$depth, measure = latesummer$temper)
knitr::kable(wldf)

In this example, you'll note that wldf$cline is formatted as a list-column. A thorough demonstration of a list column can be found here. This type of data format has been included here to consolidate split and merge results and align the output to work well with tidyverse tools. If you are interested in working with the segments data from wtr.layer(), use this approach:

wldf$segments

Note that the axes of the water column profile have been reversed and flipped to better visualize the water column and conform to standard limnological displays.

plot(y = latesummer$depth, x = latesummer$temper, ylim = rev(range(latesummer$depth)))
abline(h = wldf$cline, col='blue')
abline(h = wldf$mld, col='red')
abline(h = wldf$min_depth, col='green')
text(16, wldf$cline+3, "Thermocline", col = 'blue')
text(16, wldf$mld+3, "Mix Layer Depth", col = 'red')
text(16, wldf$min_depth+3, "Minimum Depth", col = 'green')

Important references

Pavlidis, T., and S. L. Horowitz, 1974: Segmentation of plan curves.IEEE Trans. Comput., C-23, 860–870.
Thomson, R. and I. Fine. 2003. Estimating Mixed Layer Depth from Oceanic Profile Data. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 20(2), 319-329.
Fiedler, Paul C. "Comparison of objective descriptions of the thermocline. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 8.6 (2010): 313-325.