Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2915-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2915-2025
Research article
 | 
14 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 14 Nov 2025

A data-driven wind-to-current response function and application to ocean surface current estimates

Clément Ubelmann, J. Thomas Farrar, Bertrand Chapron, Lucile Gaultier, Laura Gomez-Navarro, Marie-Hélène Rio, and Gérald Dibarboure

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Cited articles

Alford, M. H.: Revisiting Near-Inertial Wind Work: Slab Models, Relative Stress, and Mixed Layer Deepening, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50, 3141–3156, 2020. a
Ballarotta, M., Ubelmann, C., Pujol, M.-I., Taburet, G., Fournier, F., Legeais, J.-F., Faugère, Y., Delepoulle, A., Chelton, D., Dibarboure, G., and Picot, N.: On the resolutions of ocean altimetry maps, Ocean Sci., 15, 1091–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1091-2019, 2019. a
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Chapron, B., Collard, F., and Ardhuin, F.: Direct measurements of ocean surface velocity from space: Interpretation and validation, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 110, C07008, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JC002809, 2005. a
Cherian, D. A., Whitt, D. B., Holmes, R. M., Lien, R.-C., Bachman, S. D., and Large, W. G.: Off-Equatorial Deep-Cycle Turbulence Forced by Tropical Instability Waves in the Equatorial Pacific, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 51, 1575–1593, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0229.1, 2021. a
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Short summary
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.
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