Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated
Ocean currents play a key role in Earth's climate – they impact almost any process taking place in the ocean and are of major importance for navigation and human activities at sea. Nevertheless, their observation and forecasting are still difficult. First, no observing system is able to prov...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics |
| Online Access: | https://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/24/613/2017/npg-24-613-2017.pdf |
| _version_ | 1819014057164800000 |
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| author | J. Isern-Fontanet J. Isern-Fontanet J. Ballabrera-Poy A. Turiel A. Turiel E. García-Ladona |
| author_facet | J. Isern-Fontanet J. Isern-Fontanet J. Ballabrera-Poy A. Turiel A. Turiel E. García-Ladona |
| author_sort | J. Isern-Fontanet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ocean currents play a key role in Earth's climate – they impact almost any
process taking place in the ocean and are of major importance for navigation
and human activities at sea. Nevertheless, their observation and forecasting
are still difficult. First, no observing system is able to provide direct
measurements of global ocean currents on synoptic scales. Consequently, it
has been necessary to use sea surface height and sea surface temperature
measurements and refer to dynamical frameworks to derive the velocity field.
Second, the assimilation of the velocity field into numerical models of ocean
circulation is difficult mainly due to lack of data. Recent experiments that
assimilate coastal-based radar data have shown that ocean currents will
contribute to increasing the forecast skill of surface currents, but require application in multidata assimilation approaches to better identify the
thermohaline structure of the ocean. In this paper we review the current
knowledge in these fields and provide a global and systematic view of the
technologies to retrieve ocean velocities in the upper ocean and the
available approaches to assimilate this information into ocean models. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:09:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cd3931d1aef4bd2a587ab6254795147 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1023-5809 1607-7946 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:09:47Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cd3931d1aef4bd2a587ab62547951472022-12-21T19:19:24ZengCopernicus PublicationsNonlinear Processes in Geophysics1023-58091607-79462017-10-012461364310.5194/npg-24-613-2017Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilatedJ. Isern-Fontanet0J. Isern-Fontanet1J. Ballabrera-Poy2A. Turiel3A. Turiel4E. García-Ladona5Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainBarcelona Expert Center in Remote Sensing (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainInstitut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainInstitut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainBarcelona Expert Center in Remote Sensing (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainInstitut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainOcean currents play a key role in Earth's climate – they impact almost any process taking place in the ocean and are of major importance for navigation and human activities at sea. Nevertheless, their observation and forecasting are still difficult. First, no observing system is able to provide direct measurements of global ocean currents on synoptic scales. Consequently, it has been necessary to use sea surface height and sea surface temperature measurements and refer to dynamical frameworks to derive the velocity field. Second, the assimilation of the velocity field into numerical models of ocean circulation is difficult mainly due to lack of data. Recent experiments that assimilate coastal-based radar data have shown that ocean currents will contribute to increasing the forecast skill of surface currents, but require application in multidata assimilation approaches to better identify the thermohaline structure of the ocean. In this paper we review the current knowledge in these fields and provide a global and systematic view of the technologies to retrieve ocean velocities in the upper ocean and the available approaches to assimilate this information into ocean models.https://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/24/613/2017/npg-24-613-2017.pdf |
| spellingShingle | J. Isern-Fontanet J. Isern-Fontanet J. Ballabrera-Poy A. Turiel A. Turiel E. García-Ladona Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics |
| title | Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| title_full | Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| title_fullStr | Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| title_full_unstemmed | Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| title_short | Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| title_sort | remote sensing of ocean surface currents a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated |
| url | https://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/24/613/2017/npg-24-613-2017.pdf |
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