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wtf is gsw-c?

efiring/gsw-c — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-18 · repo last pushed 2026-02-24

CAudience · researcherComplexity · 2/5MaintainedSetup · easy

TL;DR

A C library implementing TEOS-10, the international standard for calculating seawater properties like temperature, salinity, density, and pressure.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Seawater property calculations
      TEOS-10 standard
      C implementation
    Tech stack
      C
    Use cases
      Analyze ocean samples
      Build oceanographic models
      Convert sensor data
    Audience
      Oceanographers
      Climate scientists
      Marine researchers

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Convert raw ocean sensor measurements into precise, standards-compliant physical properties like density and salinity.

REASON 2

Plug accurate seawater calculation functions into a larger oceanographic software system written in C.

REASON 3

Avoid manually looking up seawater property tables by calling tested functions based on the TEOS-10 standard.

REASON 4

Build oceanographic tools or models that need reliable seawater physics without re-deriving the equations.

What's in the stack?

C

How it stacks up

efiring/gsw-cac000/find-flvacc4github/kdenlive-omnifade
Stars——0
LanguageCCC
Last pushed2026-02-242013-04-05—
MaintenanceMaintainedDormant—
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audienceresearcherdevelopergeneral

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Build with make on Unix/Linux or nmake on Windows with Visual Studio, includes a test program to verify the build.

License information is not specified in the explanation.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me build and test gsw-c on Linux using make, and show me how to link it into my own C program.
Prompt 2
Explain how to use the gsw-c functions to calculate seawater density from temperature and salinity measurements.
Prompt 3
How does gsw-c differ from the original Fortran TEOS-10 implementation it was translated from?
Prompt 4
Show me how to include the gsw-c header file and call its functions from a small example C program.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is gsw-c?

A C library implementing TEOS-10, the international standard for calculating seawater properties like temperature, salinity, density, and pressure.

What language is gsw-c written in?

Mainly C. The stack also includes C.

Is gsw-c actively maintained?

Maintained — commit in last 6 months (last push 2026-02-24).

What license does gsw-c use?

License information is not specified in the explanation.

How hard is gsw-c to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is gsw-c for?

Mainly researcher.

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