Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-903-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-903-2023
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

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Cited articles

Alberola, C., Millot, C., and Font, J.: On the seasonal and mesoscale variabilities of the Northern Current during the PRIMO-0 experiment in the western Mediterranean-sea, Ocean. Ac., 18, 163–192, 1995. 
Birol, F. and Delebecque, C.: Using high sampling rate (10/20Hz) altimeter data for the observation of coastal surface currents: A case study over the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, J. Mar. Syst., 129, 318–333, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2013.07.009, 2014. 
Birol, F., Cancet, M., and Estournel, C.: Aspects of the seasonal variability of the Northern Current (NW Mediterranean Sea) observed by altimetry, J. Mar. Syst., 81, 297–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2010.01.005, 2010. 
Birol, F., Fuller, N., Lyard, F., Cancet, M., Niño, F., Delebecque, C., Fleury, S., Toublanc, F., Melet, A., Saraceno, M., and Léger, F.: Coastal applications from nadir altimetry: Example of the X-TRACK regional products, [data set], Adv. Space Res., 59, 936–953, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2016.11.005, 2017. 
Birol, F., Léger, F., Passaro, M., Cazenave, A., Niño, F., Calafat, F. M., Shaw, A., Legeais, J.-F., Gouzenes, Y., Schwatke, C., and Benveniste, J.: The X-TRACK/ALES multi-mission processing system: New advances in altimetry towards the coast, Adv. Space Res., 67, 2398–2415, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.01.049, 2021. 
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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.