Stammer, D. B., University of hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, detlef.stammer@zmaw.de

DETERMINING THE GEOSTROPHIC OCEAN CURRENTS AND EDDIES FROM NEXT GENERATION ALTIMETER MISSIONS.

Knowing ocean surface currents with high space-time resolution is of importance for many oceanographic applications. In the past, however, the direct determination of surface geostrophic currents from space-borne data was hampered since only alongtrack sea surface height data are available from a single satellite at its nadir food print. This situation will potentially change with the advent of a wide-swath altimetry. This paper will discuss the need for velocity observations on space scale of the order of 10 km, will discuss necessary sampling scenarios and will review potential future applications of next-generation wide-swath altimeter data. The discussion will be guided by ongoing studies of surface geostrophic currents as they emerge from the tandem TOPEX-JASON altimeter mission from which geostrophic surface velocities are available simultaneously in horizontal and meridional direction and with with 10 km alongtrack resolution. Highlighted application will range from the seasonal and interannual variation of eddy kinetic energy, to seasonal changes of the flow field to statistical evaluations of the resulting flow field.

Oral presentation

Presentation is given by student: No
Session #:006
Date: 03-05-2008
Time: 13:30