HR: 12:05h
AN: C31D-08    [PDF]
TI: A Test of Ocean Mesoscale Monitoring With ICESat Altimetry
AU: * Leben, R R
EM: leben@colorado.edu
AF: Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado 431 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0431 United States
AU: Born, G H
EM: georgeb@colorado.edu
AF: Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado 431 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0431 United States
AU: Urban, T J
EM: urban@csr.texas.edu
AF: The University of Texas at Austin/Center for Space Research, 3925 West Braker Lane #200, Austin, TX 78759 United States
AU: Schutz, B E
EM: schutz@csr.texas.edu
AF: Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado 431 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0431 United States
AB: The ocean mesoscale is under sampled even with the four operational microwave altimeters currently on orbit. Laser altimetry from ICESat could potentially provide a substantial amount of ocean topography measurements that would improve ocean mesoscale sampling if we understand the performance of the laser measurement system over the ocean and process the data in a manner consistent with microwave altimeter mesoscale mapping products. To test this capability, we compare along track ICESat sea level anomaly in the Gulf of Mexico to mesoscale sea surface height anomaly maps derived from Jason-1, TOPEX/POSEIDON, Geosat Follow-on and Envisat microwave altimetry. The anomalous topographic signals associated with Loop Current fronts and eddies are clearly seen in the 40 Hz ICESat data, which are verified by coincident microwave altimetry and radiometric images of sea surface temperature and ocean color. The remaining high frequency, fine spatial scale differences between the laser and microwave measurements can be mitigated by a variety of filtering techniques to reduce the noise in the laser measurements; however, systematic and non-random errors need further investigation before more accurate mesoscale altimetry maps can be produced by blending laser and microwave altimetry.
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
DE: 4528 Fronts and jets
DE: 4532 General circulation
DE: 4594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting