| Popis: |
We introduce the new satellite-derived daily global mesoscale (1/6th degree) Blended Ocean Surface Currents (BOSC) product, which will be available in quasi-realtime fromNOAA CoastWatch. Existing observation-based surface current products synthesize geostrophic currents derived from satellite altimetry with an Ekman drift componentderived from surface wind stresses. BOSC builds upon this traditional approach by including additional observation-derived effects such as Stokes Drift, mesoscale advection, and high latitude surface currents inferred from Sea Ice drift. Additionally, BOSC incorporates satellite SST imagery to derive surface motion from the advection of SST features, in a process known as “feature-tracking”. These additional observations provide further constraint of surface currents in tropical, polar, and coastal regions where satellite-derived geostrophic and Ekman currents tend to provide less accurate estimates. Additionally, we offer a comparison of BOSC to existing observation-based surface current products as well as to multiple independent in situ datasets. |
