Observing the Ocean Submesoscale with Enhanced-Color GOES-ABI Visible Band Data.

Jason K Jolliff,Sherwin Ladner,M David Lewis,Richard L Crout

doi:10.3390/s19183900

Abstract

Ocean color remote sensing has long been utilized as a fundamental research tool in the oceanographic investigations of coupled biological-physical processes. Despite numerous technical advances in the application of space borne ocean-viewing radiometers, host satellite platforms in a polar-orbiting configuration often render the temporal frequency of sensor data acquisition insufficient for studies of ocean processes that occur within increasingly smaller space-time scales. Whereas geostationary ocean color missions are presently the exception (GOCI) rather than the rule, this paper presents a method to convolve ocean reflectance data obtained from contemporary ocean-viewing multispectral radiometers (VIIRS, OLCI) with spectrally-limited Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data obtained from the GOES-R meteorological satellites. The method, Chromatic Domain Mapping (CDM), employs a colorimetry approach to visible range ocean reflectance data. The true color space is used as a frame-of-reference that is mapped by the dedicated yet temporally sparse ocean color sensors; coincident and spectrally coarse information from ABI is then used to estimate the evolution of the true color scene. The procedure results in very high resolution (~5 min) true color image sequences. Herein, example CDM applications of rapid frontal boundary evolution and feature displacement in the Gulf of Mexico are presented and future applications of this technique are discussed.

Highlights

Ocean color sensors based on polar-orbiting satellite platforms have been providing invaluable synoptic information about the optical and biogeochemical properties of the surface ocean since the 1978 launch of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner [1]
The true color space is used as a frame-of-reference that is mapped by the dedicated yet temporally sparse ocean color sensors; coincident and spectrally coarse information from Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is used to estimate the evolution of the true color scene
We present a method for performing polar-orbiting-to-geostationary sensor data convolution and true color image estimation for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R series ABI data that is specific to ocean color, i.e., the radiant signal emerging from the ocean’s surface

Summary

Introduction

Ocean color sensors based on polar-orbiting satellite platforms have been providing invaluable synoptic information about the optical and biogeochemical properties of the surface ocean since the 1978 launch of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner [1]. Removal of the intervening atmospheric signal (that may account for more than 90% of the total visible band radiant energy received) as well as radiometric sensor calibration requires continuing verification and validation efforts [3,4]. Provided these endeavors are successful, these sensors may provide reasonable estimates of measurable sea surface quantities [5,6]. The mesoscale eddies (large centers of cyclonic or anticyclonic ocean circulation) are often detected in satellite radiometer data, near highly energetic western boundary currents [8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion