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Improved Surface Currents from Altimeter-Derived and Sea Surface Temperature Observations: Application to the North Atlantic Ocean
Summary
This study improved ocean surface current reconstructions by merging satellite altimeter-derived geostrophic currents with sea surface temperature observations. The multi-variate approach reduced errors in current estimates and has applications for tracking floating debris and pollutants including microplastics.
We present a study on the ocean surface currents reconstruction by merging Level-4 (L4, gap-free) altimeter-derived geostrophic currents and satellite sea surface temperature. Building upon past studies on the multi-variate reconstruction of geostrophic currents from satellite observations, we regionalized and optimized an algorithm to improve the altimeter-derived surface circulation estimates in the North Atlantic Ocean. A ten-year-long time series (2010–2019) is presented and validated by means of in situ observations. The newly optimized algorithm allowed us to improve the currents estimate along the main axis of the Gulf Stream and in correspondence of well-known upwelling areas in the North Eastern Atlantic, with percentage improvements of around 15% compared to standard operational altimetry products.
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