Create a section based on columnar data, or a set of oce-class
objects that can be coerced to a section. There are three cases.
Case 1. If the first argument is a numerical vector, then it is taken to be the
salinity, and factor
is applied to station
to break the
data up into chunks that are assembled into ctd-class
objects with
as.ctd
and combined to make a section-class
object
to be returned. This mode of operation is provided as a convenience for datasets
that are already partly processed; if original CTD data are available, the next
mode is preferred, because it permits the storage of much more data and metadata
in the CTD object.
Case 2. If the first argument is a list containing oce objects, then those
objects are taken as profiles of something. A requirement for this
to work is that every element of the list contains both longitude
and latitude
in either the metadata
or data
slot (in
the latter case, the mean value is recorded in the section object)
and that every element also contains pressure
in its data
slot.
Case 3. If the first argument is a argo-class
object, then
the profiles it contains are turned into ctd-class
objects,
and these are assembled into a section to be returned.