The use of Synergy between microwave SST sensors and altimeters to retrieve surface geostrophic currents

TANDEO, P.; SARACENO, M.; RUIZ, J.; FABLET, R.

Simposio; 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
; 2014

The synergy between satellite measurements of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea Surface Height (SSH) has been studied in the last decades. Among the main approaches, we find methodologies based on (i) global analysis using empirical orthogonal functions (cf. [2]), (ii) local analysis using surface quasi-geostrophic dynamics (cf. [1]) or (iii) local patch-based regressions intro- ducing a latent variable (cf. [3]). This last approach is able to identify and track (temporally and spatially) different relationships between local SST and SSH. They correspond to different dynamical modes at the surface of the ocean, characterized by geostrophic or advective displacements with different ampli- tudes. In this work, using Markovian priors and additional remote sensing data of chlorophyll-a and sea surface salinity along with in situ measurements of the mixed layer depth, we physically constrain the dynamical mode identification. Then, using this information of surface dynamics and daily microwave SST data, we make prediction of mesoscale geostrophic surface currents. We compare them to the reference Aviso product which only use altimetric data. The results show accurate identification of eddies and ocean fronts in the Malvinas and Brazilian currents off the Argentinian coasts.