Ocean Circulation from Space:An Overview

Sarah Gille

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

and Department of Mechanical and

Aerospace Engineering

UCSD, La Jolla, CA

Jason Altimeter

Focusing on the Gulf Stream

• Loop Current and Hurricane In-tensification: Altimetry, SST,Scatterometry

• Gulf Stream Variability: SST andAltimetry

• Gulf Stream Measured MeanFlow: GRACE and Altimetry

www.rsmas.miami.edu/gifs

Loop Current from Altimetry

http://argo.colorado.edu/∼realtime/welcome/

Loop Current Heat More than Skin Deep

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/cyclone/data/method.html

Katrina Intensification over the Loop Current

Gustavo Goni, AOML

Heat Content Yields Forecast Improvement

Gustavo Goni, AOML

Heat Content Available Globally

www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/cyclone/data

Gulf Stream Variability: Sea Surface Height (cm)

Smith et al., 2000: J. Phys. Oceanogr., 30, 1532-1561

Challenges: Infrared SST and Altimetry

Infrared SST obstructed by cloud.

http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/avhrr/gs n/

Altimeter measures anomaly but

not mean.

Gulf Stream North Wall Variations

Glenn and Crowley, 1997: J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 14, 1366-1378

Gulf Stream Recirculation from Altimetry

Kelly et al., 1999: J. Phys. Oceanogr., 29, 313-327

Recirculation Patterns

Dong and Kelly, 2004: J. Phys. Oceanogr., 34, 1214-1231

Mean Flow in the Gulf Stream: GRACE

Jayne, 2005: JGR, in press.

Mean Flow in the Gulf Stream: altimetry plus insitu

Rio and Hernandez, 2004: JGR, 109, C12032

Gulf Stream Instantaneous Snapshots: Nov-Dec,2003

LeTraon and Dibarboure, 2004: AVISO Newsletter # 10.

Summary

• Altimetry, scatterometry, grav-ity missions, infrared and mi-crowave SST have advancedknowledge of ocean circulation

• Loop Current: Forecasts im-prove with knowledge of oceanheat content along hurricanepath.

• Gulf Stream variability: Intensityand path changes influence totalheat transport.

• Gulf Stream mean flow via satel-lite gravity missions, in situ ob-servations: Prospects for bettercirculation. http://rads.tudelft.nl/gulfstream/

Eddy Kinetic Energy: Tandem Mission Yields Bet-ter Resolution (December 11, 2002)

Jason-1 + TOPEX/Poseidon Jason-1 onlyLeTraon and Dibarboure, 2004: AVISO Newsletter # 10.