Comparison of Sea Surface Heights Derived from Satellite Altimetry and from Ocean Bottom Pressure Gauges: The SW Pacific MOTEVAS Project

Abstract

A bottom pressure gauge (BPG) was installed in proximity (3.7 km at closest approach) of Jason-1 and formerly TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) ground track No. 238 at the Wusi site, located ∼ 10 km offshore off the west coast of Santo Island, Vanuatu, Southwest (SW) Pacific. Sea level variations are inferred from the bottom pressure, seawater temperature, and salinity, corrected for the measured surface atmospheric pressure. The expansion of the water column (steric increase in sea surface height, SSH) due to temperature and salinity changes is approximated by the equation of state. We compare time series of SSH derived from T/P Side B altimeter Geophysical Data Records (GDR) and Jason-1 Interim Geophysical Data Records (IGDR), with the gauge-inferred sea level variations. Since altimeter SSH is a geocentric measurement, whereas the gauge-inferred observation is a relative sea level measurement, SSH comparison is conducted with the means of both series removed in this study. In addition, high-rate (1-Hz) bottom pressure implied wave heights (H 1/3 ) are compared with the significant wave height (SWH) measured by Jason-1. Noticeable discrepancy is found in this comparison for high waves, however the differences do not contribute significantly to the difference in sea level variations observed between the altimeter and the pressure gauge. In situ atmospheric pressure measurements are also used to verify the inverse barometer (IB) and the dry troposphere corrections (DTC) used in the Jason IGDR. We observe a bias between the IGDR corrections and those derived from the local sensors. Standard deviations of the sea level differences between T/P and BPG is 52 mm and is 48 mm between Jason and BPG, indicating that both altimeters have similar performance at the Wusi site and that it is feasible to conduct long-term monitoring of altimetry at such a site.