Multi-satellite/Operational Applications Splinter Summary

1. Multi-satellite/Operational Applications Splinter Summary Chairs: G. Jacobs, C. Birkett, P. Oke March 2007 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting

2. Oral Presentations • Queffeulou Merging wave height measurements from altimeters. Application to the investigation of large scale and regional features of sea state • Lefevre Wave Model Error Analysis from Altimetry • Dorandeu Future altimeter systems: is the mesoscale observability good enough for operational oceanography? • Larnicol Quality of real time altimeter maps: impact of data delay • Bouffard Improved satellite altimetric data dedicated to coastal areas: Validation over the northwestern Mediterranean • Tournadre Effect of rain and cloud on Ka band (ALTIKA) altimeter data • Steunou Impacts of atmospheric attenuations on AltiKa expected performances • Alpine Moveable Feasts: The Eddy and the MPA? • Wilkin Predictability of Mesoscale Variability in the EAC given Strong Constraint Data Assimilation • Griffin Explaining the extraordinary: operational oceanography in Australia • Oke The Bluelink Ocean Data Assimilation System: an ensemble approach to an eddy-resolving application • Brassington Bluelink> ocean model analysis and prediction system delivering operational forecasts • Hobday Near real-time spatial management for a longline bycatch species based on sea surface topography and temperature observations • Verron AltiKa: a Ka-band altimetry system in tandem with JASON-2 • Chao Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Real-Time Ocean Forecasting System off the California Coast • Lagerloef Combining altimeter-derived currents with Aquarius salinity to study the marine freshwater budget

3. Poster Presentations • Hernandez Validation in operational oceanography at the global scale in the GODAE and MERSEA framework : Overview of the Mercator Global Operational system assessment • Lamouroux Control of a free-surface barotropic model of the Bay of Biscay by assimilation of multi-source sea-level data (altimetry and tide-gauges) in presence of atmospheric forcing errors • Lamouroux Design of the future altimetry missions: a first prototype of an « end-to-end » mission simulator • Perry Ocean Surface Topography Data at the JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC • Steunou AltiKa : a new concept of altimeter for the SARAL mission • Ubelmann Impact of multisatellite altimetric missions on the Tropical Atlantic circulation from some Observing Systems Simulations Experiments • Vandemark Investigating ocean altimeter data and applications in the Gulf of MaineS. VignudelliALTICORE - a consortium serving European Seas with Coastal Altimetry • Kaplan Power spectral parameterizations of error as function of resolution in gridded altimetry maps • Blanc Seadatanet, a pan-european infrastructure for ocean & marine data management • Oke A method for estimating representation error of oceanic observations • Birkett Near Real Time Monitoring of Global Lakes and Reservoirs • Bouffard A view from multi-mission satellite altimetry over the coastal ocean: application to the Ligurian Sea and the Corsica Channel • Dorandeu SSALTO/DUACS : Daily multi-mission products for global and regional applications • García Mediterranean water mass budget variations: revisited • Helbert Generation of DEMs for the new tracking mode onboard Poseidon-3 and AltiKa

4. Topics covered • Issues in data assimilation • Waves • Applications to fisheries • Data Provision • Coastal and regional studies • Observing systems

5. Issues in Data Assimilation • Wilkin Predictability of Mesoscale Variability in the EAC given Strong Constraint Data Assimilation • Oke The Bluelink Ocean Data Assimilation System: an ensemble approach to an eddy-resolving application • Brassington Bluelink> ocean model analysis and prediction system delivering operational forecasts • Chao Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Real-Time Ocean Forecasting System off the California Coast • Larnicol Quality of real time altimeter maps: impact of data delay • Kaplan Power spectral parameterizations of error as function of resolution in gridded altimetry maps • Oke A method for estimating representation error of oceanic observations • Lamouroux Control of a free-surface barotropic model of the Bay of Biscay by assimilation of multi-source sea-level data (altimetry and tide-gauges) in presence of atmospheric forcing errors • Hernandez Validation in operational oceanography at the global scale in the GODAE and MERSEA framework : Overview of the Mercator Global Operational system assessment

6. 1-day forecast 8-day forecast 15-day forecast 0 lag –analysis skill 1 week lag –little loss of skill 2 week lag – forecast beginsto deteriorate 3 week lag – forecast still better than … no assimilation Issues in Data Assimilation Ensemble forecasts (white), ensemble mean (black) and obs (colour) RMS difference between ROMS subsurface temperature predictions and all XBT observations in 2001-2002 in the Tasman Sea SSH + SST SSH + SST + XBT … forecast skill of a i4DVar system … importance of sub-surface assimilation for forecast skill Wilkin et al.

7. Issues in Data Assimilation … results from Bluelink ReANalysis (above) Oke et al. … OceanMAPS undergoing operational trials Brassington et al.

8. Issues in Data Assimilation Chao et al

9. Waves • Queffeulou Merging wave height measurements from altimeters. Application to the investigation of large scale and regional features of sea state • Lefevre Wave Model Error Analysis from Altimetry • In areas of wave generation, model wave heights are too low (in red) and in areas where swell is dominant, model wave heights are too high (in blue). • Comparisons with altimetry  understanding of model errors  led to improvements in model physics

10. Applications to Fisheries • Hobday Near real-time spatial management for a longline bycatch species based on sea surface topography and temperature observations • Alpine Moveable Feasts: The Eddy and the MPA? Using value-added products that are derived from altimetry for flexible ocean management Alpine et al. Habitat preferences Habitat prediction + 3D ocean info Management decision Hobday et al.

11. Data Provision • Perry Ocean Surface Topography Data at the JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC • Birkett Near Real Time Monitoring of Global Lakes and Reservoirs • Dorandeu SSALTO/DUACS : Daily multi-mission products for global and regional applications NRT monitoring of sea-level in lakes and reserviors, www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/global_reservoir Application for agriculture, water resources, irrigation potential, long-term drought … Birkett et al.

12. Coastal / regional studies • Griffin Explaining the extraordinary: operational oceanography in Australia • Bouffard Improved satellite altimetric data dedicated to coastal areas: Validation over the northwestern Mediterranean • Bouffard A view from multi-mission satellite altimetry over the coastal ocean: application to the Ligurian Sea and the Corsica Channel • Vandemark Investigating ocean altimeter data and applications in the Gulf of MaineS. VignudelliALTICORE - a consortium serving European Seas with Coastal Altimetry • García Mediterranean water mass budget variations: revisited 15 degree water off NSW in summer! Adelaide Advertiser … Griffin et al.

13. Observing Systems • Tournadre Effect of rain and cloud on Ka band (ALTIKA) altimeter data • Steunou Impacts of atmospheric attenuations on AltiKa expected performances • Steunou AltiKa : a new concept of altimeter for the SARAL mission • Helbert Generation of DEMs for the new tracking mode onboard Poseidon-3 and AltiKa • Wilkin Predictability of Mesoscale Variability in the EAC given Strong Constraint Data Assimilation • Oke The Bluelink Ocean Data Assimilation System: an ensemble approach to an eddy-resolving application • Escudier Future altimeter systems: is the mesoscale observability good enough for operational oceanography? • Larnicol Quality of real time altimeter maps: impact of data delay • Ubelmann Impact of multisatellite altimetric missions on the Tropical Atlantic circulation from some Observing Systems Simulations Experiments • Lamouroux Design of the future altimetry missions: a first prototype of an «end-to-end» mission simulator • Lagerloef Combining altimeter-derived currents with Aquarius salinity to study the marine freshwater budget • Verron AltiKa: a Ka-band altimetry system in tandem with JASON-2 • Tournadre Effect of rain and cloud on Ka band (ALTIKA) altimeter data • Steunou Impacts of atmospheric attenuations on AltiKa expected performances

14. Observing Systems Verron et al.  OSSEs for the choice of AltiKa orbit Mid-latitudes: Compare performance of assimilating model using Jason-2 + 10, 17 or 35 day AltiKa satellite  35 day AltiKa seems a good compromise for mid-latitudes

15. Probability to have: • 2 satellites in delayed time (red), • 3 satellites in near real time (blue) Observing Systems EKE differences between 4 & 2 satellites missions (Units are in cm2/s2) Comparison with tide gauges … Escudier et al., Larnicol et al.

16. Observing Systems Applications to climate, tropical, etc. … Lagerloef et al.

17. Conclusions • Requirements • minimum of 2 satellites required to resolve mesoscale variability • 4 NRT satellites equivalent to 2 delayed-mode satellites • Assimilation of different data types increases redundancy in the GOOS • Applications: altimetry is considered the foundation of operational applications • Expected (e.g., search & rescue, military etc). • Coastal • Hurricane • Fisheries • Water resources • Looking ahead • Aquarius mission (SSS) • CRYOSAT fully exploited • AltiKa and CRYOSAT will require special treatment for full exploitation (ongoing efforts) • Extension of altimetry towards the coast shows promise (ongoing)