# gsw_alpha_on_beta

    thermal expansion divided by the saline
    contraction coefficient (75-term equation)

## Contents

- USAGE:
- DESCRIPTION:
- INPUT:
- OUTPUT:
- EXAMPLE:
- AUTHOR:
- VERSION NUMBER:
- REFERENCES:

## USAGE:

    alpha_on_beta = gsw_alpha_on_beta(SA,CT,p)

## DESCRIPTION:

    Calculates alpha divided by beta, where alpha is the thermal expansion
    coefficient and beta is the saline contraction coefficient of seawater
    from Absolute Salinity and Conservative Temperature.  This function uses
    the computationally-efficient 75-term expression for specific volume in
    terms of SA, CT and p (Roquet et al., 2015).

    Note that the 75-term equation has been fitted in a restricted range of
    parameter space, and is most accurate inside the "oceanographic funnel"
    described in  McDougall et al. (2003).  The GSW library function
    "gsw_infunnel(SA,CT,p)" is avaialble to be used if one wants to test if
    some of one's data lies outside this "funnel".

    Click for a more detailed description of
    alpha on beta.

## INPUT:

    SA  =  Absolute Salinity                                        [ g/kg ]
    CT  =  Conservative Temperature                                [ deg C ]
    p   =  sea pressure                                             [ dbar ]
           (ie. absolute pressure - 10.1325 dbar)

    SA & CT need to have the same dimensions.
    p may have dimensions 1x1 or Mx1 or 1xN or MxN, where SA & CT are MxN.

## OUTPUT:

    alpha_on_beta  =  thermal expansion coefficient with respect to
                      Conservative Temperature divided by the saline
                      contraction coefficient at constant Conservative
                      Temperature.                           [ kg g^-1 K^-1 ]

## EXAMPLE:

    SA = [34.7118; 34.8915; 35.0256; 34.8472; 34.7366; 34.7324;]
    CT = [28.8099; 28.4392; 22.7862; 10.2262;  6.8272;  4.3236;]
    p =  [     10;      50;     125;     250;     600;    1000;]

    alpha_on_beta = gsw_alpha_on_beta(SA,CT,p)

    alpha_on_beta =

       0.452468543022009
       0.449601695030057
       0.387140203094424
       0.230778871228268
       0.193747796234162
       0.170946048860385

## AUTHOR:

    Paul Barker and Trevor McDougall          [ help@teos-10.org ]

## VERSION NUMBER:

    3.05 (16th February, 2015)

## REFERENCES:

    IOC, SCOR and IAPSO, 2010: The international thermodynamic equation of
     seawater - 2010: Calculation and use of thermodynamic properties.
     Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Manuals and Guides No. 56,
     UNESCO (English), 196 pp.  Available from the TEOS-10 web site.

    McDougall, T.J., D.R. Jackett, D.G. Wright and R. Feistel, 2003:
     Accurate and computationally efficient algorithms for potential
     temperature and density of seawater.  J. Atmosph. Ocean. Tech., 20,
     pp. 730-741.

    Roquet, F., G. Madec, T.J. McDougall, P.M. Barker, 2015: Accurate
     polynomial expressions for the density and specifc volume of seawater
     using the TEOS-10 standard. Ocean Modelling.

    The software is available from http://www.TEOS-10.org