Synthetic geoid and the estimation of mesoscale absolute topography from altimeter data

David L. Porter; Allan R. Robinson; Scott M. Glenn; Ella B. Dobson

Synthetic geoid and the estimation of mesoscale absolute topography from altimeter data

David L. Porter, Allan R. Robinson, Scott M. Glenn, Ella B. Dobson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A 'synthetic geoid' is an estimation of the medium spatial scale variations of the true marine geoid. It is calculated by subtracting from an altimeter-derived mean sea surface an estimate of mean sea-surface displacement obtained from a dynamical ocean model initialized with remotely sensed and in situ data. Estimates of the absolute sea-surface topography for oceanic mesoscale variability (current meanders and eddies) are obtained from Geosat altimetric data using a synthetic geoid and are compared with observations and model results. This method is compared with results obtained by differencing sea-surface heights along individual tracks from the altimetric mean sea surface and with those obtained by differencing two individual repeat tracks from each other. Excellent results are obtained for the Gulf Stream region, for several cases of the ocean region between Greenland and the United Kingdom, and for an isolated eddy observed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	369-379
Number of pages	11
Journal	Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest (Applied Physics Laboratory)
Volume	10
Issue number	4
State	Published - Oct 1 1989
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Engineering(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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title = "Synthetic geoid and the estimation of mesoscale absolute topography from altimeter data",

abstract = "A 'synthetic geoid' is an estimation of the medium spatial scale variations of the true marine geoid. It is calculated by subtracting from an altimeter-derived mean sea surface an estimate of mean sea-surface displacement obtained from a dynamical ocean model initialized with remotely sensed and in situ data. Estimates of the absolute sea-surface topography for oceanic mesoscale variability (current meanders and eddies) are obtained from Geosat altimetric data using a synthetic geoid and are compared with observations and model results. This method is compared with results obtained by differencing sea-surface heights along individual tracks from the altimetric mean sea surface and with those obtained by differencing two individual repeat tracks from each other. Excellent results are obtained for the Gulf Stream region, for several cases of the ocean region between Greenland and the United Kingdom, and for an isolated eddy observed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthetic geoid and the estimation of mesoscale absolute topography from altimeter data

AU - Porter, David L.

AU - Robinson, Allan R.

AU - Glenn, Scott M.

AU - Dobson, Ella B.

PY - 1989/10/1

Y1 - 1989/10/1

N2 - A 'synthetic geoid' is an estimation of the medium spatial scale variations of the true marine geoid. It is calculated by subtracting from an altimeter-derived mean sea surface an estimate of mean sea-surface displacement obtained from a dynamical ocean model initialized with remotely sensed and in situ data. Estimates of the absolute sea-surface topography for oceanic mesoscale variability (current meanders and eddies) are obtained from Geosat altimetric data using a synthetic geoid and are compared with observations and model results. This method is compared with results obtained by differencing sea-surface heights along individual tracks from the altimetric mean sea surface and with those obtained by differencing two individual repeat tracks from each other. Excellent results are obtained for the Gulf Stream region, for several cases of the ocean region between Greenland and the United Kingdom, and for an isolated eddy observed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

AB - A 'synthetic geoid' is an estimation of the medium spatial scale variations of the true marine geoid. It is calculated by subtracting from an altimeter-derived mean sea surface an estimate of mean sea-surface displacement obtained from a dynamical ocean model initialized with remotely sensed and in situ data. Estimates of the absolute sea-surface topography for oceanic mesoscale variability (current meanders and eddies) are obtained from Geosat altimetric data using a synthetic geoid and are compared with observations and model results. This method is compared with results obtained by differencing sea-surface heights along individual tracks from the altimetric mean sea surface and with those obtained by differencing two individual repeat tracks from each other. Excellent results are obtained for the Gulf Stream region, for several cases of the ocean region between Greenland and the United Kingdom, and for an isolated eddy observed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

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