Northwest Atlantic Surface Circulation from Multi-Satellite Observations

Abstract

The advent of satellite remote sensing has led to new ways of monitoring and studying the near-surface ocean circulation, but its use has often been limited to the deep ocean. Here we present and validate a method of reconstructing the near-surface currents from multi-sensor satellite data off Atlantic Canada with a resolution of 0.25°, for the period from October 1992 to September 2006. The reconstructed ocean circulation consists of a superposition of 1) depth-variable wind-induced Ekman currents and surface wave-induced Stokes drift calculated from scatterometer-measured wind velocities using a theoretical formulation; 2) depth-invariant geostrophic surface current anomalies calculated from altimetric sea surface height anomalies; and 3) mean currents that are a combination of model-simulated currents for the Newfoundland and southern Labrador Shelves and satellite-observed currents for the rest of the study region. The method features two novel aspects: the integration of simulated and satellite-obser...