Satellite altimetry in the continental shelf of the southwestern Atlantic, Argentina 10th coastal altimetry workshop

LORELEY LAGO; CHRISTINE PROVOST; RAUL GUERRERO; MARTIN SARACENO; RAMIRO FERRARI; PATRICIA MARTOS; GUILLERMINA PANIAGUA; CAMILA ARTANA

Florence

Congreso; 10th coastal altimetry workshop; 2017; 2017

This study shows preliminary results of the data obtained along the northern transect of the Franco-Argentinean CASSIS (Southwest Atlantic Currents Satellite In-Situ) project. Between December 2014 and November 2015, five moorings recorded direction and speed of currents, temperature, salinity and pressure. The five moorings were deployed under the Jason track #26: two in the continental shelf (A1 and A2) and three in the shelf-break (A4, M1 and M2). Correlation with satellite altimetry data is statistically significant within all the moorings, being significantly larger over the shelf-break than over the continental shelf. Here we focus on the results obtained from A1 and A2, trying to understand the reason of the lower performance of the altimetry data over the continental shelf than over the shelf-break. A preliminary analysis suggestthat the ageostrophic component imposed by the dominant NNW winds is likely to be responsible of the lowest correlation found between the meridional components over the shelf. Coastal altimetry products (CTOH, ALES), new products from CLS with 1/8 of degree spatial resolution and that include Ekman currents, numerical model outputs and other satellite data (SAR, SST, ocean colour) are being analysed. Geophysical corrections are also examined.