Operational oceanography requires availability of remotely sensed data, for example sea surface temperature (SST), in near realtime (NRT). A system is presented that makes use of a combination of state of the art NASA Pathfinder SST (PFSST) algorithm and cloud detection procedures both adapted to operate in NRT. A novel cloud detection algorithm that makes use of a reference image based upon recent SST fields recovers data over coastal areas affected by sharp SST fronts that are discarded by the standard PFSST quality flag. The resulting increased SST coverage is visually checked, to remove residual cloud contamination, by a trained analyst prior to input to the objective analysis package in turn adapted for satellite-derived SST observations. The output daily gridded data in which the gaps due to clouds have been filled by the optimal interpolation module are assimilated into the Mediterranean Forecasting System Toward Environmental prediction (MFSTEP) ocean forecasting system on a weekly basis.
Different methods for the extrapolation of vertical profiles from sea surface measurements are presented. The techniques, called Coupled Pattern Reconstruction (CPR) and multivariate EOF Reconstruction (mEOF-R) base on the multivariate analysis of the variability of vertical profiles from hydrographic data and on the hypothesis that only few modes are needed to explain most of the variance/covariance of the fields. The CPR and mEOF-R methods have been applied and tested on the data collected during SYMPLEX survey in a selected area of the Mediterranean sea (the Channel of Sicily), also using simultaneous altimeter measurements as surface input.
Remote sensing instruments provide a huge volume of measurements of sea surface parameters which are of fundamental interest to the oceanographic community, mainly because of the high spatial and temporal coverage of satellite sensors respect to traditional techniques. In fact, the whole ocean circulation is actually driven by processes occurring at the air-sea interface, as the energy is mainly supplied to the ocean by atmosphere-ocean interactions. Consequently, altimeter derived SSH and SST obtained from AVHRR, that have already proved to be quit useful to evaluate the sea surface variability, can be though t as possible tools to investigate the ocean dynamics and atmosphere-ocean interaction more deeply. In this work, 2 years of Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project dat over the Mediterranean basin are analyzed. The relationship between SST and SLA is investigated applying an objective method for coupled pattern detection, based on the singular value decomposition of the covariance of the two data-sets.
Satellite data have revealed the presence of an intens4e mesoscale anticyclonic eddy at the northern boundary of the Balearic Sea, which appeared in September 1998 and remained almost stationary until March 1999. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) images have allowed to investigate the formation of the eddy indicating an entrance of Atlantic Water through the Ibiza and Mallorca channels much stronger than normal conditions and following an anomalous path. Additional data form an oceanographic cruise on February 1999 confirmed the signature of Atlantic Water in the region. This structure produced a relevant inversion in the usual cyclonic circulation of the basis. The observed strong anticyclonic eddy induced anomalous northeastwards geostrophic velocities near the Catalan Coast reaching the maximums of about 50 cm/s, by contrast of the typical 20 cm/s in opposite sense. The three data-sets examined in this work are in good agreement in terms of the dimensions and intensity of the eddy. This suggests that remote sensing would be able to detect such kind of events in the future constituting a powerful tool providing a real-time monitoring of the Basin.
Upper ocean dynamics is characterized by a strong variability, at different scales, both in direction and structure of the flow. Mesoscale variability, which is ubiquitous in the world ocean, is often the dominant component in the variance spectrum of velocity with relevant implications on water mass mixing and transformation and on the carbon transfer in the marine food web. Mesoscale activity is manifested through the formation of instabilities, meanders and eddies. Eddies generate either a doming of isopycnals (cyclones) or a central depression (anticyclones). This in turn modifies, among the others, nutrient and organism distributions in the photic zone eventually enhancing or depressing photosynthetic activity and other connected biological responses. The mechanism is similar to what has been thoroughly studied for the warm and cold core rings but at different spatial and temporal scales. The enhancement of phytoplankton growth and the modification of photosynthetic parameters has been shown to occur in situ by means of a modulated fluorescence probe. More recently, an attempt to estimate the magnitude of this specific forcing on nutrient fluxes and primary production has also been conducted at different scales by modeling exercises, though with contrasting estimates the relative importance concerns. Because phytoplankton growth takes place when light, nutrients and cells are found at the same place, the increase in primary production favored by mesoscale eddies cannot be easily predicted. The incident light, the seasonality, the life-time of the structure, its intensity etc. can all influence the final yield. In addition, it has still to be determined which component of the community reacts faster and takes advantage of the new nutrients and how efficiently the new carbon is channeled in the food web. For what remote sensing is concerned, the detectability form the space of such structures is certainly dependent on the depth at which the upward distortion of isopycnals takes places. It can be supposed that a change in bio-optical signature of the whole structure could occur because of the 3-D dynamics of the eddy. If this holds true, then color remote sensing coupled with sea level topography and sea surface temperature should be a powerful tool to track such transient structures. The ALT-SYMPLEX program has been designed to better understand the relationship between short living eddies and carbon transfer in the food web. This is based on several experiments aimed to integrate remote sensing data (ocean color and surface topography) and in situ data in order to evaluate the relationship between surface and sub-surface physical dynamics and its relations on chemical and biological aspects in presence of mesoscale features.
TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 altimeter data have successfully been used to study the mesoscale field in the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the seasonal variability of the Sea Level and eddy statistics in this basin. The comparison between the two altimeter performance is very good and underline importance to combine the information of TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 to study the Mediterranean mesoscale eddy field. Sea level anomalies maps every five days were produced using the both data sets by means of sub-optimal interpolation. A comparison between mesoscale features detected by the two altimeters and contemporaneous features observed using Sea Surface Temperature maps definitively proves the direct relation between sea level anomalies and the Mediterranean eddy field. The data collected ERS-SYMPLEX cruise have been used to verify the performance of ERS-1/2 and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeters in the Mediterranean Sea. The ERS-SYMPLEX experiment has been carried out in the channel of Sicily during spring 1996 in order to make a direct comparison between SLA from ERS1/2 and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeters and in situ data. During the cruise CTD and XBT casts have been done in the central and eastern regions of the channel, and particularly densely along selected altimeters' tracks at the same time of the satellite pass. Sea level anomalies have been computed and compared with the dynamic heights and with the main circulation features resulting from SYMPLEX cruise. The results definitively prove the capability of the two altimeters to correctly detect both basin and mesoscale features of the Mediterranean circulation. Collinear analysis along a repeated T/P track has also suggested potential use of SLA in order to detect barotropic component of currents in the channel of Sicily.
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