Assessing the capability of three different altimetry satellite missions to observe the Northern Current by using a high-resolution model

Carret, Alice; Birol, Florence; Estournel, Claude; Zakardjian, Bruno

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-903-2023

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-903-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-903-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

Research article

|

26 Jun 2023

Research article |

| 26 Jun 2023

Assessing the capability of three different altimetry satellite missions to observe the Northern Current by using a high-resolution model

Alice Carret, Florence Birol, Claude Estournel, and Bruno Zakardjian

Data sets

Coastal applications from nadir altimetry: Example of the X-TRACK regional products F. Birol, N. Fuller, F. Lyard, M. Cancet, F. Ni\~{n}o, C. Delebecque Fleury, S., Toublanc, F., Melet, A., Saraceno, M., and L\'{e}ger, F. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2016.11.005

MOOSE HF radar daily averaged surface currents from MEDTLN site (Toulon NW Med) B. Zakardjian, and C. Quentin https://doi.org/10.17882/56500

Short summary

This study presents a methodology to investigate the ability of satellite altimetry to observe a coastal current, the Northern Current, in the NW Mediterannean Sea. We use a high-resolution regional model, validated with HF radars and in situ data. The model is used as a reference and compared to three different missions (Jason 2, SARAL and Sentinel-3), studying both the surface velocity and the sea surface height signature of the current. The performance of the three missions was also compared.