Oceanographic Seawater Properties (TEOS-10)

SkillDev tools

Calculate seawater thermodynamic properties using TEOS-10 standard including density, salinity, sound speed, and freezing temperature for oceanography.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Oceanographic Seawater Properties (TEOS-10) skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by spectrai-initiative/innoclaw in .claude/skills/oceanographic-seawater-properties/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Usage

1. MCP Server Definition

import asyncio
import json
from contextlib import AsyncExitStack
from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client
from mcp import ClientSession

class OceanGSWClient:
    """Ocean GSW (Gibbs SeaWater) MCP Client"""

    def __init__(self, server_url: str, api_key: str):
        self.server_url = server_url
        self.api_key = api_key
        self.session = None

    async def connect(self):
        print(f"Connecting to: {self.server_url}")
        try:
            self.transport = streamablehttp_client(
                url=self.server_url,
                headers={"SCP-HUB-API-KEY": self.api_key}
            )
            self._stack = AsyncExitStack()
            await self._stack.__aenter__()
            self.read, self.write, self.get_session_id = await self._stack.enter_async_context(self.transport)
            self.session_ctx = ClientSession(self.read, self.write)
            self.session = await self._stack.enter_async_context(self.session_ctx)
            await self.session.initialize()
            print("✓ connect success")
            return True
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"✗ connect failure: {e}")
            return False

    async def disconnect(self):
        """Disconnect from server"""
        try:
            if hasattr(self, '_stack'):
                await self._stack.aclose()
            print("✓ already disconnect")
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"✗ disconnect error: {e}")
    def parse_result(self, result):
        try:
            if hasattr(result, 'content') and result.content:
                content = result.content[0]
                if hasattr(content, 'text'):
                    return json.loads(content.text)
            return str(result)
        except Exception as e:
            return {"error": f"parse error: {e}", "raw": str(result)}

2. Seawater Properties Calculation Workflow

Calculate seawater thermodynamic properties following the TEOS-10 (Thermodynamic Equation of Seawater - 2010) international standard.

Workflow Steps:

  1. Convert to Absolute Salinity - Convert practical salinity to absolute salinity
  2. Calculate Density - Compute seawater density
  3. Calculate Sound Speed - Determine speed of sound in seawater
  4. Calculate Freezing Temperature - Find freezing point
  5. Calculate Conservative Temperature - Get conservative temperature from potential temperature

Implementation:

## Initialize client
client = OceanGSWClient(
    "https://scp.intern-ai.org.cn/api/v1/mcp/34/OceanGSW-Tool",
    "<your-api-key>"
)

if not await client.connect():
    print("connection failed")
    exit()

print("=== Oceanographic Seawater Properties (TEOS-10) ===\n")

## Input parameters for typical ocean conditions
practical_salinity = 35.0  # PSU (practical salinity units)
temperature = 10.0          # °C (in-situ temperature)
pressure = 1000.0           # dbar (approximately 1000m depth)
longitude = -30.0           # degrees E
latitude = 20.0             # degrees N

## Step 1: Convert practical salinity to absolute salinity
print("Step 1: Convert to Absolute Salinity")
result = await client.session.call_tool(
    "SA_from_SP",
    arguments={
        "SP": practical_salinity,
        "p": pressure,
        "lon": longitude,
        "lat": latitude
    }
)
absolute_salinity = client.parse_result(result)
print(f"Practical Salinity: {practical_salinity} PSU")
print(f"Absolute Salinity: {absolute_salinity} g/kg\n")

## Step 2: Calculate seawater density
print("Step 2: Calculate Seawater Density")
result = await client.session.call_tool(
    "rho",
    arguments={
        "SA": absolute_salinity,
        "CT": temperature,
        "p": pressure
    }
)
density = client.parse_result(result)
print(f"Density: {density} kg/m³\n")

## Step 3: Calculate speed of sound
print("Step 3: Calculate Sound Speed")
result = await client.session.call_tool(
    "sound_speed",
    arguments={
        "SA": absolute_salinity,
        "CT": temperature,
        "p": pressure
    }
)
sound_speed = client.parse_result(result)
print(f"Sound Speed: {sound_speed} m/s\n")

## Step 4: Calculate freezing temperature
print("Step 4: Calculate Freezing Temperature")
result = await client.session.call_tool(
    "t_freezing",
    arguments={
        "SA": absolute_salinity,
        "p": pressure,
        "saturation_fraction": 0.0  # 0 for air-free, 1 for air-saturated
    }
)
freezing_temp = client.parse_result(result)
print(f"Freezing Temperature: {freezing_temp}°C\n")

## Step 5: Calculate potential temperature
print("Step 5: Calculate Potential Temperature")
result = await client.session.call_tool(
    "pt_from_t",
    arguments={
        "SA": absolute_salinity,
        "t": temperature,
        "p": pressure,
        "p_ref": 0.0  # Reference pressure (0 for surface)
    }
)
potential_temp = client.parse_result(result)
print(f"In-situ Temperature: {temperature}°C")
print(f"Potential Temperature: {potential_temp}°C\n")

await client.disconnect()

Tool Descriptions

OceanGSW-Tool Server (TEOS-10 Standard):

  • SA_from_SP: Convert practical salinity to absolute salinity

    • Args: SP (PSU), p (dbar), lon (deg E), lat (deg N)
    • Returns: Absolute salinity (g/kg)
  • rho: Calculate seawater density

    • Args: SA (g/kg), CT (°C), p (dbar)
    • Returns: Density (kg/m³)
  • sound_speed: Calculate speed of sound in seawater

    • Args: SA (g/kg), CT (°C), p (dbar)
    • Returns: Sound speed (m/s)
  • t_freezing: Calculate freezing temperature

    • Args: SA (g/kg), p (dbar), saturation_fraction (0-1)
    • Returns: Freezing temperature (°C)
  • pt_from_t: Calculate potential temperature from in-situ temperature

    • Args: SA (g/kg), t (°C), p (dbar), p_ref (dbar)
    • Returns: Potential temperature (°C)

Input/Output

Inputs:

  • Practical Salinity (SP): PSU (practical salinity units), typically 32-37 for open ocean
  • Absolute Salinity (SA): g/kg, accounts for non-salt materials
  • Temperature (t, CT): °C, in-situ or conservative temperature
  • Pressure (p): dbar, approximately equal to depth in meters
  • Longitude: degrees East
  • Latitude: degrees North

Outputs:

  • Absolute salinity: g/kg
  • Density: kg/m³
  • Sound speed: m/s
  • Freezing temperature: °C
  • Potential temperature: °C

Use Cases

  • Oceanographic research and monitoring
  • Climate modeling and ocean circulation studies
  • Underwater acoustics and sonar applications
  • Marine biology habitat characterization
  • Ocean engineering and offshore operations
  • Fisheries science
  • Sea level and ocean heat content studies

TEOS-10 Overview

TEOS-10 (Thermodynamic Equation of Seawater - 2010) is the international standard for seawater properties:

  • Replaces the older EOS-80 standard
  • Uses Absolute Salinity instead of Practical Salinity
  • Uses Conservative Temperature instead of Potential Temperature
  • Provides consistent thermodynamic framework
  • Essential for accurate ocean property calculations

Physical Interpretations

Absolute vs Practical Salinity:

  • Practical Salinity: Based on conductivity measurement
  • Absolute Salinity: Mass fraction of dissolved material (includes non-salt components)
  • Difference typically ~0.5 g/kg but varies regionally

Seawater Density:

  • Increases with salinity and pressure
  • Decreases with temperature
  • Typical ocean: 1020-1030 kg/m³
  • Critical for ocean circulation and stratification

Sound Speed:

  • Increases with temperature, salinity, and pressure
  • Typical ocean: 1480-1540 m/s
  • Critical for sonar, acoustic communication, seismic studies

Freezing Temperature:

  • Decreases with salinity
  • Increases with pressure (unusual property)
  • Seawater freezes at ~-2°C at surface

Additional Ocean Tools

The OceanGSW-Tool server provides 50+ TEOS-10 functions including:

  • alpha: Thermal expansion coefficient
  • beta: Haline contraction coefficient
  • chem_potential_water: Chemical potential
  • cp: Specific heat capacity
  • enthalpy: Specific enthalpy
  • entropy: Specific entropy
  • internal_energy: Specific internal energy
  • Nsquared: Brunt-Väisälä frequency (ocean stability)
  • sigma0, sigma1, sigma2, sigma3, sigma4: Potential density anomalies
  • spiciness0, spiciness1, spiciness2: Water mass spiciness

Pressure Conversion

  • 1 dbar ≈ 1 meter depth (very close approximation)
  • Surface pressure: 0 dbar
  • 1000 m depth: ~1000 dbar
  • 10000 m depth (Mariana Trench): ~10000 dbar

Signals

GitHub stars
391
Forks
28
Last commit
Aug 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
oceanographic-seawater-properties-spectrai-initiative
Source
github.com/spectrai-initiative/innoclaw