Publication

2006

English

http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1038.pdf (0.83 Mo)

2006 by the American Geophysical Union

Pascual Ananda¹, Faugere Yannice², Larnicol Gilles², Le Traon Pierre-Yves³

1 : Univ Las Baleares, Inst Mediterrani Estudis Avancats, CSIC, E-07122 Mallorca, Spain.
2 : CLS, Space Oceanog Div, F-31520 Ramonville St Agne, France.
3 : IFREMER, F-29280 Plouzane, France.

Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (AGU), 2006 , Vol. 33 , N. 2 , P. NIL_13-NIL_16

69

Physical Oceanography

Satellite altimeters, Mesoscale variability, Global ocean

Data from four satellite altimeters are combined with the aim of improving the representation of the mesoscale variability in the Global Ocean. All missions [Jason-1, ERS-2/ENVISAT, Topex/Poseidon interleaved with Jason-1 and Geosat Follow-On] are cross-calibrated previously to produce weekly gridded maps. In areas of intense variability, the rms differences between a classical configuration of two altimeters and the scenario merging four missions can reach 10 cm and 400 cm(2)/s(2) in SLA and EKE, respectively, which represents an important percentage of the signal variance. A comparison with surface drifters shows that the four altimeter scenario improves the recovery of mesoscale structures that were not properly sampled with Jason(-1) + ERS-2/ENVISAT. Finally, the consistency between altimetric and tide gauge data is improved by about 25% when coastal sea level is estimated with 4 satellites compared to the results obtained with 2 altimeters.