Articles | Volume 15, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1091-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1091-2019
Research article
 | 
20 Aug 2019
Research article |  | 20 Aug 2019

On the resolutions of ocean altimetry maps

Maxime Ballarotta, Clément Ubelmann, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Guillaume Taburet, Florent Fournier, Jean-François Legeais, Yannice Faugère, Antoine Delepoulle, Dudley Chelton, Gérald Dibarboure, and Nicolas Picot

Related authors

Integrating wide swath altimetry data into Level-4 multi-mission maps
Maxime Ballarotta, Clément Ubelmann, Valentin Bellemin-Laponnaz, Florian Le Guillou, Guillaume Meda, Cécile Anadon, Alice Laloue, Antoine Delepoulle, Yannice Faugère, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Ronan Fablet, and Gérald Dibarboure
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2345,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2345, 2024
Short summary
Regional mapping of energetic short mesoscale ocean dynamics from altimetry: performances from real observations
Florian Le Guillou, Lucile Gaultier, Maxime Ballarotta, Sammy Metref, Clément Ubelmann, Emmanuel Cosme, and Marie-Helène Rio
Ocean Sci., 19, 1517–1527, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1517-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1517-2023, 2023
Short summary
Improved global sea surface height and current maps from remote sensing and in situ observations
Maxime Ballarotta, Clément Ubelmann, Pierre Veillard, Pierre Prandi, Hélène Etienne, Sandrine Mulet, Yannice Faugère, Gérald Dibarboure, Rosemary Morrow, and Nicolas Picot
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 295–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-295-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-295-2023, 2023
Short summary
Simultaneous estimation of ocean mesoscale and coherent internal tide sea surface height signatures from the global altimetry record
Clément Ubelmann, Loren Carrere, Chloé Durand, Gérald Dibarboure, Yannice Faugère, Maxime Ballarotta, Frédéric Briol, and Florent Lyard
Ocean Sci., 18, 469–481, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-469-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-469-2022, 2022
Short summary
DUACS DT2018: 25 years of reprocessed sea level altimetry products
Guillaume Taburet, Antonio Sanchez-Roman, Maxime Ballarotta, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Jean-François Legeais, Florent Fournier, Yannice Faugere, and Gerald Dibarboure
Ocean Sci., 15, 1207–1224, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1207-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1207-2019, 2019
Short summary

Related subject area

Approach: Operational Oceanography | Depth range: Surface | Geographical range: All Geographic Regions | Phenomena: Sea Level
DUACS DT2018: 25 years of reprocessed sea level altimetry products
Guillaume Taburet, Antonio Sanchez-Roman, Maxime Ballarotta, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Jean-François Legeais, Florent Fournier, Yannice Faugere, and Gerald Dibarboure
Ocean Sci., 15, 1207–1224, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1207-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1207-2019, 2019
Short summary
Assessing the impact of multiple altimeter missions and Argo in a global eddy-permitting data assimilation system
Simon Verrier, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, and Elisabeth Remy
Ocean Sci., 13, 1077–1092, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-1077-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-1077-2017, 2017
ENSURF: multi-model sea level forecast – implementation and validation results for the IBIROOS and Western Mediterranean regions
B. Pérez, R. Brouwer, J. Beckers, D. Paradis, C. Balseiro, K. Lyons, M. Cure, M. G. Sotillo, B. Hackett, M. Verlaan, and E. A. Fanjul
Ocean Sci., 8, 211–226, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-8-211-2012,https://doi.org/10.5194/os-8-211-2012, 2012

Cited articles

Bretherton, F. P., Davis, R. E., and Fandry, C.: A technique for objective analysis and design of oceanographic instruments applied to MODE-73, Deep-Sea Res., 23, 559–582, https://doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(76)90001-2, 1976. 
Chelton, D. B. and Schlax, M. G.: The accuracies of smoothed sea surface height fields constructed from tandem satellite altimeter datasets, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 20, 1276–1302, 2003. 
Chelton, D. B., Schlax, M. G., Samelson, R. M., and de Szoeke, R. A.: Global observations of large oceanic eddies, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030812, 2007. 
Chelton, D. B., Schlax, M. G., and Samelson, R. M.: Global observations of nonlinear mesoscale eddies, Prog. Oceanogr., 91, 167–216, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2011.01.002, 2011. 
Chelton, D., Dibarboure, G., Pujol, M.-I., Taburet, G., and Schlax, M. G.: The Spatial Resolution of AVISO Gridded Sea Surface Height Fields, OSTST Lake Constance, Germany, 28–31 October 2014, available at: http://meetings.aviso.altimetry.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/tx_ausyclsseminar/files/29Red0900-1_OSTST_Chelton.pdf (last access: 16 August 2019), 2014. 
Download
Short summary
This study investigates the resolving capabilities of the DUACS gridded products delivered through the CMEMS catalogue. Our method is based on the noise-to-signal ratio approach. While altimeter along-track data resolve scales on the order of a few tens of kilometers, we found that the merging of these along-track data into continuous maps in time and space leads to effective resolution ranging from ~ 800 km wavelength at the Equator to 100 km wavelength at high latitude.