Using high sampling rate (10/20 Hz) altimeter data for the observation of coastal surface currents: A case study over the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Satellite altimetry, measuring sea surface heights (SSHs), has unique capabilities to provide information about the ocean dynamics. In this paper, the skill of the original full rate (10/20Hz) measurements, relative to conventional 1-Hz data, is evaluated in the context of coastal studies in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The performance and the question of the measurement noise are quantified through a comparison with different tide gauge sea level time series. By applying a specific processing, closer than 30km to the land, the number of valid data is higher for the 10/20-Hz than for the 1-Hz observations: +4.5% for T/P, +10.3 for Jason-1 and +13% for Jason-2. By filtering higher sampling rate measurements (using a 30-km cut-off low-pass Lanczos filter), we can obtain the same level of sea level accuracy as we would using the classical 1-Hz altimeter data. The gain in near-shore data results in a better observation of the Liguro–Provençal–Catalan Current. The seasonal evolution of the currents derived from 20-Hz data is globally consistent with patterns derived from the corresponding 1-Hz observations. But the use of higher frequency altimeter measurements allows us to observe the variability of the regional flow closer to the coast (~10–15km from land).