Dynamic Interpolation of Sea Surface Height and Potential Applications for Future High-Resolution Altimetry Mapping

Type Article
Date 2015-01
Language English
Author(s) Ubelmann Clement1, Klein Patrice2, 3, Fu Lee-Lueng1
Affiliation(s) 1 : CALTECH, Jet Prop Lab, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA.
2 : IFREMER, Lab Phys Oceans, Plouzane, France.
3 : CNRS, France
Source Journal Of Atmospheric And Oceanic Technology (0739-0572) (Amer Meteorological Soc), 2015-01 , Vol. 32 , N. 1 , P. 177-184
DOI 10.1175/JTECH-D-14-00152.1
WOS© Times Cited 66
Keyword(s) : Conservation equations, Eddies, Mesoscale processes, Mesoscale forecasting, Interpolation schemes, Quasigeostrophic models
Abstract Many issues may challenge standard interpolation techniques to produce high-resolution gridded maps of sea surface height in the context of future missions like Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT). The present study proposes a new method to address these challenges. Based on the conservation of potential vorticity, the method provides a simple dynamic approach to interpolation through temporal gaps between high spatial resolution observations. For gaps shorter than 20 days, the dynamic interpolation is extremely efficient and allows for the reconstruction of the time evolution of small mesoscale eddies (below 100 km) that would be smoothed out by conventional methods based on optimal mapping. Such a simple approach offers some perspectives for developing high-level products from high-resolution altimetry data in the future.
Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version 8 1 MB Open access
Top of the page