Articles | Volume 18, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-609-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-609-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
05 May 2022
Research article |
| 05 May 2022
| 05 May 2022
Contribution of a constellation of two wide-swath altimetry missions to global ocean analysis and forecasting
Mounir Benkiran
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Mercator-Ocean International, 31400 Toulouse, France
Pierre-Yves Le Traon
Mercator-Ocean International, 31400 Toulouse, France
Ifremer, 29280 Plouzané, France
Gérald Dibarboure
Centre National d'Études Spatiales, 31400 Toulouse, France
Related authors
Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Gérald Dibarboure, Jean-Michel Lellouche, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Mounir Benkiran, Marie Drevillon, Yann Drillet, Yannice Faugère, and Elisabeth Remy
Ocean Sci., 21, 1329–1347, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1329-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1329-2025, 2025
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By providing all weather, global, and real-time observations of sea level, a key variable to constrain ocean analysis and forecasting systems, satellite altimetry has had a profound impact on the development of operational oceanography. This paper provides an overview of the development and evolution of satellite altimetry and operational oceanography over the past 20 years from the launch of Jason-1 in 2001 to the launch of SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) in 2022.
Mounir Benkiran, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Elisabeth Rémy, and Yann Drillet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-420, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-420, 2024
Preprint archived
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The assimilation of altimetry data corrects and improves the forecast of a global ocean forecasting system. Until now, the use of altimetry observations from nadir altimeters has had a major impact on the quality of ocean forecasts. Our study shows that the use of observations from swath altimeters will have a greater impact than the quality of these forecasts and will better constrain mesoscale structures.
Jean-Michel Lellouche, Eric Greiner, Olivier Le Galloudec, Gilles Garric, Charly Regnier, Marie Drevillon, Mounir Benkiran, Charles-Emmanuel Testut, Romain Bourdalle-Badie, Florent Gasparin, Olga Hernandez, Bruno Levier, Yann Drillet, Elisabeth Remy, and Pierre-Yves Le Traon
Ocean Sci., 14, 1093–1126, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1093-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1093-2018, 2018
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In the coming decades, a strong growth of the ocean economy is expected. Scientific advances in operational oceanography will play a crucial role in addressing many environmental challenges and in the development of ocean-related economic activities. In this context, remarkable improvements have been achieved with the current Mercator Ocean system. 3-D water masses, sea level, sea ice and currents have been improved, and thus major oceanic variables are hard to distinguish from the data.
Michel Tchilibou, Simon Barbot, Loren Carrere, Ariane Koch-Larrouy, Gérald Dibarboure, and Clément Ubelmann
Ocean Sci., 21, 1469–1486, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1469-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1469-2025, 2025
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MIOST24 (Multivariate Inversion of Ocean Surface Topography 2024) annual and monthly internal tide (IT) atlases, based on 25 years of altimetry data and an updated wavelength database, are presented for the Indo-Philippine archipelago and the Amazon shelf. The atlases show monthly IT variability and a better correction of IT in altimetry data than with MIOST22 (MIOST 2022) and HRET (High-Resolution Empirical Tide). The results support the development of a global MIOST24.
Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Gérald Dibarboure, Jean-Michel Lellouche, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Mounir Benkiran, Marie Drevillon, Yann Drillet, Yannice Faugère, and Elisabeth Remy
Ocean Sci., 21, 1329–1347, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1329-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1329-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
By providing all weather, global, and real-time observations of sea level, a key variable to constrain ocean analysis and forecasting systems, satellite altimetry has had a profound impact on the development of operational oceanography. This paper provides an overview of the development and evolution of satellite altimetry and operational oceanography over the past 20 years from the launch of Jason-1 in 2001 to the launch of SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) in 2022.
Hélène Etienne, Clément Ubelmann, Fabrice Ardhuin, and Gérald Dibarboure
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2890, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
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This study analyzes near-inertial oscillations (NIOs) in ocean surface currents using drifter data and the LLC2160 ocean-atmosphere model. It finds that NIOs have a typical spatial decorrelation scale around 100 km, varying with latitude. The model accurately captures these patterns, supporting the ODYSEA concept mission's goal to measure surface currents via Doppler radar and reduce NIO-related data aliasing for better ocean monitoring.
Antonio Novellino, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, and Andy Moore
State Planet, 5-opsr, 8, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-8-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-8-2025, 2025
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This paper discusses the vital role of observations in ocean predictions and forecasting, highlighting the need for effective access, management, and integration of data to improve models and decision-making. The paper also explores opportunities for standardizing protocols and the potential of citizen-based, cost-effective data collection methods.
Ségolène Berthou, John Siddorn, Vivian Fraser-Leonhardt, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, and Ibrahim Hoteit
State Planet, 5-opsr, 20, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-20-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-20-2025, 2025
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Ocean forecasting is traditionally done independently from atmospheric, wave, or river modelling. We discuss the benefits and challenges of bringing all these modelling systems together for ocean forecasting.
Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Antonio Novellino, and Andrew M. Moore
State Planet, 5-opsr, 7, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-7-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-5-opsr-7-2025, 2025
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Ocean prediction relies on the integration between models and satellite and in situ observations through data assimilation techniques. The authors discuss the role of observations in operational ocean forecasting systems, describing the state of the art of satellite and in situ observing networks and defining the paths for addressing multi-scale monitoring and forecasting.
Clément Ubelmann, J. Thomas Farrar, Bertrand Chapron, Lucile Gaultier, Laura Gómez-Navarro, Marie-Hélène Rio, and Gérald Dibarboure
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1149, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1149, 2025
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This study models wind-driven ocean currents using observed wind stress and an empirically estimated impulse response function based on drifting buoys. By convolving this function with wind forcing from ERA5, the estimates align well with independent observations across latitudes. Additionally, the response function serves as a valuable indicator of subsurface properties.
Michaël Ablain, Noémie Lalau, Benoit Meyssignac, Robin Fraudeau, Anne Barnoud, Gérald Dibarboure, Alejandro Egido, and Craig Donlon
Ocean Sci., 21, 343–358, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-343-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-343-2025, 2025
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This study proposes a novel cross-validation method to assess the instrumental stability in sea level trends. The method involves implementing a second tandem flight phase between two successive altimeter missions a few years after the first phase. The trend in systematic instrumental differences made during the two tandem phases can be estimated below ± 0.1 mm yr-1 (16–84 % confidence level) on a global scale for time intervals between the tandem phases of 4 years or more.
Michel Tchilibou, Loren Carrere, Florent Lyard, Clément Ubelmann, Gérald Dibarboure, Edward D. Zaron, and Brian K. Arbic
Ocean Sci., 21, 325–342, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-325-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-325-2025, 2025
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Sea level observations along the swaths of the new SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission were used to characterize internal tides at three semidiurnal frequencies off the Amazon shelf in the tropical Atlantic during the SWOT calibration/validation period. The atlases were derived using harmonic analysis and principal component analysis. The SWOT-derived internal tide atlas outperforms the reference atlas previously used to correct SWOT observations.
Gerald Dibarboure, Cécile Anadon, Frédéric Briol, Emeline Cadier, Robin Chevrier, Antoine Delepoulle, Yannice Faugère, Alice Laloue, Rosemary Morrow, Nicolas Picot, Pierre Prandi, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Matthias Raynal, Anaelle Tréboutte, and Clément Ubelmann
Ocean Sci., 21, 283–323, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-283-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-283-2025, 2025
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The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission delivers unprecedented swath-altimetry products. In this paper, we describe how we extended the Level-3 algorithms to handle SWOT’s unique swath-altimeter data. We also illustrate and discuss the benefits, relevance, and limitations of Level-3 swath-altimeter products for various research domains.
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
Ocean Sci., 21, 63–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-63-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-63-2025, 2025
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The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides unprecedented swath altimetry data. This study examines SWOT's impact on mapping systems, showing a moderate effect with the current nadir altimetry constellation and a stronger impact with a reduced one. Integrating SWOT with dynamic mapping techniques improves the resolution of satellite-derived products, offering promising solutions for studying and monitoring sea-level variability at finer scales.
Aliette Chenal, Gilles Garric, Charles-Emmanuel Testut, Mathieu Hamon, Giovanni Ruggiero, Florent Garnier, and Pierre-Yves Le Traon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3633, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3633, 2024
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This study proposes to improve the representation of ice and snow volumes in the Arctic and Antarctic based on a novel multivariate assimilation method using freeboard radar and snow depth satellite data. The approach leads to an improved sea ice and snow volume representation, even during summer when satellite data is limited. The performance of the assimilated system is better in the Arctic than in Antarctica, where ocean/ice interactions play a key role.
Mounir Benkiran, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Elisabeth Rémy, and Yann Drillet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-420, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-420, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
The assimilation of altimetry data corrects and improves the forecast of a global ocean forecasting system. Until now, the use of altimetry observations from nadir altimeters has had a major impact on the quality of ocean forecasts. Our study shows that the use of observations from swath altimeters will have a greater impact than the quality of these forecasts and will better constrain mesoscale structures.
Karina von Schuckmann, Lorena Moreira, and Pierre-Yves Le Traon
State Planet, 1-osr7, 1, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-1-2023, 2023
Stefania A. Ciliberti, Enrique Alvarez Fanjul, Jay Pearlman, Kirsten Wilmer-Becker, Pierre Bahurel, Fabrice Ardhuin, Alain Arnaud, Mike Bell, Segolene Berthou, Laurent Bertino, Arthur Capet, Eric Chassignet, Stefano Ciavatta, Mauro Cirano, Emanuela Clementi, Gianpiero Cossarini, Gianpaolo Coro, Stuart Corney, Fraser Davidson, Marie Drevillon, Yann Drillet, Renaud Dussurget, Ghada El Serafy, Katja Fennel, Marcos Garcia Sotillo, Patrick Heimbach, Fabrice Hernandez, Patrick Hogan, Ibrahim Hoteit, Sudheer Joseph, Simon Josey, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Simone Libralato, Marco Mancini, Pascal Matte, Angelique Melet, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Andrew M. Moore, Antonio Novellino, Andrew Porter, Heather Regan, Laia Romero, Andreas Schiller, John Siddorn, Joanna Staneva, Cecile Thomas-Courcoux, Marina Tonani, Jose Maria Garcia-Valdecasas, Jennifer Veitch, Karina von Schuckmann, Liying Wan, John Wilkin, and Romane Zufic
State Planet, 1-osr7, 2, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-2-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-2-2023, 2023
Oscar Vergara, Rosemary Morrow, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Gérald Dibarboure, and Clément Ubelmann
Ocean Sci., 19, 363–379, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-363-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-363-2023, 2023
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Recent advances allow us to observe the ocean from space with increasingly higher detail, challenging our knowledge of the ocean's surface height signature. We use a statistical approach to determine the spatial scale at which the sea surface height signal is no longer dominated by geostrophic turbulence but in turn becomes dominated by wave-type motions. This information helps us to better use the data provided by ocean-observing satellites and to gain knowledge on climate-driving processes.
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
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We present a new gridded sea surface height and current dataset produced by combining observations from nadir altimeters and drifting buoys. This product is based on a multiscale and multivariate mapping approach that offers the possibility to improve the physical content of gridded products by combining the data from various platforms and resolving a broader spectrum of ocean surface dynamic than in the current operational mapping system. A quality assessment of this new product is presented.
Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Stéphanie Dupuy, Oscar Vergara, Antonio Sánchez-Román, Yannice Faugère, Pierre Prandi, Mei-Ling Dabat, Quentin Dagneaux, Marine Lievin, Emeline Cadier, Gérald Dibarboure, and Nicolas Picot
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-292, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-292, 2022
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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An altimeter sea level along-track level-3 product with a 5 Hz (~1.2 km) sampling is proposed. It takes advantage of recent advances in radar altimeter processing, and improvements made to different stages of the processing chain. Compared to the conventional 1 Hz (~7 km) product, it significantly improves the observability of the short wavelength signal in open ocean and near coast areas (> 5 km). It also contributes to improving high resolution numerical model outputs via data assimilation.
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
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The signature of internal tides has become an important component for high-resolution altimetry over oceans. Several studies have proposed some solutions to resolve part of these internal tides based on the altimetry record. Following these studies, we propose here a new inversion approach aimed to mitigate aliasing with other dynamics. After a description of the methodology, the solution for the main tidal components has been successfully validated against independent observations.
Cori Pegliasco, Antoine Delepoulle, Evan Mason, Rosemary Morrow, Yannice Faugère, and Gérald Dibarboure
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1087–1107, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1087-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1087-2022, 2022
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The new global Mesoscale Eddy Trajectory Atlases (META3.1exp) provide eddy identification and trajectories from altimetry maps. These atlases comprise an improvement to and continuation of the historical META2.0 product. Changes in the detection parameters and tracking were tested by comparing the eddies from the different datasets. In particular, the eddy contours available in META3.1exp are an asset for multi-disciplinary studies.
Pierre Prandi, Jean-Christophe Poisson, Yannice Faugère, Amandine Guillot, and Gérald Dibarboure
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5469–5482, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5469-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5469-2021, 2021
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We investigate how mapping sea level in the Arctic Ocean can benefit from combining data from three satellite radar altimeters: CryoSat-2, Sentinel-3A and SARAL/AltiKa. A dedicated processing for SARAL/AltiKa provides a baseline for the cross-referencing of CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3A before mapping. We show that by combining measurements coming from three missions, we are able to increase the resolution of gridded sea level fields in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean.
Sandrine Mulet, Marie-Hélène Rio, Hélène Etienne, Camilia Artana, Mathilde Cancet, Gérald Dibarboure, Hui Feng, Romain Husson, Nicolas Picot, Christine Provost, and P. Ted Strub
Ocean Sci., 17, 789–808, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-789-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-789-2021, 2021
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Satellite altimetry has revolutionized ocean observation by allowing the sea level to be monitored with very good spatiotemporal coverage. However, only the sea level anomalies are retrieved; to monitor the whole oceanic signal a temporal mean (called mean dynamic topography, MDT) must be added to these anomalies. In this study we present the newly updated CNES-CLS18 MDT. An evaluation of this new solution shows significant improvements in both strong currents and coastal areas.
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
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This paper deals with sea level altimetery products. These geophysical data are distributed as along-track and gridded data through Copernicus programs CMEMS and C3S. We present in detail a new reprocessing of the data (DT2018) from 1993 to 2017. The main changes and their impacts since the last version (DT2014) are carefully discussed. This comparison is made using an independent dataset. DT2018 sea level products are improved at the global and regional scale, especially in coastal areas.
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
Ocean Sci., 15, 1091–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1091-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1091-2019, 2019
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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.
Antonio Bonaduce, Mounir Benkiran, Elisabeth Remy, Pierre Yves Le Traon, and Gilles Garric
Ocean Sci., 14, 1405–1421, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1405-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1405-2018, 2018
Jean-Michel Lellouche, Eric Greiner, Olivier Le Galloudec, Gilles Garric, Charly Regnier, Marie Drevillon, Mounir Benkiran, Charles-Emmanuel Testut, Romain Bourdalle-Badie, Florent Gasparin, Olga Hernandez, Bruno Levier, Yann Drillet, Elisabeth Remy, and Pierre-Yves Le Traon
Ocean Sci., 14, 1093–1126, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1093-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1093-2018, 2018
Short summary
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In the coming decades, a strong growth of the ocean economy is expected. Scientific advances in operational oceanography will play a crucial role in addressing many environmental challenges and in the development of ocean-related economic activities. In this context, remarkable improvements have been achieved with the current Mercator Ocean system. 3-D water masses, sea level, sea ice and currents have been improved, and thus major oceanic variables are hard to distinguish from the data.
Fabrice Ardhuin, Yevgueny Aksenov, Alvise Benetazzo, Laurent Bertino, Peter Brandt, Eric Caubet, Bertrand Chapron, Fabrice Collard, Sophie Cravatte, Jean-Marc Delouis, Frederic Dias, Gérald Dibarboure, Lucile Gaultier, Johnny Johannessen, Anton Korosov, Georgy Manucharyan, Dimitris Menemenlis, Melisa Menendez, Goulven Monnier, Alexis Mouche, Frédéric Nouguier, George Nurser, Pierre Rampal, Ad Reniers, Ernesto Rodriguez, Justin Stopa, Céline Tison, Clément Ubelmann, Erik van Sebille, and Jiping Xie
Ocean Sci., 14, 337–354, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-337-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-337-2018, 2018
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The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale (SKIM) monitoring mission is a proposal for a future satellite that is designed to measure ocean currents and waves. Using a Doppler radar, the accurate measurement of currents requires the removal of the mean velocity due to ocean wave motions. This paper describes the main processing steps needed to produce currents and wave data from the radar measurements. With this technique, SKIM can provide unprecedented coverage and resolution, over the global ocean.
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
V. Turpin, E. Remy, and P. Y. Le Traon
Ocean Sci., 12, 257–274, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-12-257-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-12-257-2016, 2016
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Argo profiling floats are continuously sampling the world ocean, providing temperature and salinity profiles of up to 2000 m depths. This article addresses the impact of the current Argo array on real-time ocean analyses and forecasts. One-year observing system experiments were carried out with the 0.25° global Mercator Ocean monitoring and forecasting system. The improvement due to the assimilation of the Argo profiles is estimated globally and regionally, showing a significant positive impact.
F. Ninove, P.-Y. Le Traon, E. Remy, and S. Guinehut
Ocean Sci., 12, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-12-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-12-1-2016, 2016
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Argo floats are one of the main components of the in situ observation network in the ocean. Nowadays, more than 3500 profiling floats are sampling the world ocean. In this study, they are used to characterize spatial scales of temperature and salinity variations from the surface down to 1500m. The scales appear to be anisotropic and vary from about 100km at high latitudes to 700km in the Indian and Pacific equatorial and tropical regions.
K. von Schuckmann, J.-B. Sallée, D. Chambers, P.-Y. Le Traon, C. Cabanes, F. Gaillard, S. Speich, and M. Hamon
Ocean Sci., 10, 547–557, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-547-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-547-2014, 2014
P. Y. Le Traon
Ocean Sci., 9, 901–915, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-9-901-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-9-901-2013, 2013
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Short summary
The SSH analysis and 7 d forecast error will be globally reduced by almost 50 %. Surface current forecast errors should be equivalent to today’s surface current analysis errors or alternatively will be improved (variance error reduction) by 30 % at the surface and 50 % for 300 m depth.
The resolution capabilities will be drastically improved and will be closer to 100 km wavelength as opposed to today where they are above 250 km (on average).
The SSH analysis and 7 d forecast error will be globally reduced by almost 50 %. Surface...
