Float 4900334, a shorter record from the equatorial region,
presents an example of a different situation that leads to elevated
standard deviation. Its time series mirrors the general
shape of the corresponding WOA field but “exaggerates” its
gradients. Sparsity of WOA data is not a problem in this region,
and the difference between the time series is most likely
an indicator of the extent at which the WOA smoothing procedure
weakens actual spatial gradients.