Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Ocean currents are crucial in regulating Earth's climate, with a significant impact in the distribution of ocean properties. During the Calibration/Validation phase of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission, we performed a high‐resolution, multi‐platform experiment to evaluate SWOT's ability to resolve small‐scale features, focusing on a ∼25 km‐radius anticyclonic eddy in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) recorded maximum velocities of 30 cm/s at 155 m depth and underwater glider data identified biconvex isopycnals, classifying the eddy as intrathermocline. SWOT successfully captured the sea level signal and surface geostrophic currents of the eddy, showing notable error reduction over conventional altimetry: 24% in sea level representation compared to glider observations, and 35% and 31% in horizontal velocity magnitude compared to Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and drifter measurements, respectively. This study highlights SWOT's potential in resolving small‐scale ocean dynamics.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2025gl116480
Institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique, Laboratoire des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information de la Communication et de la Connaissance, IMT Atlantique, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, University of Washington, University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: G2262748287, G3480869486, G3511260848, Statistical ChAracterization of multi-scaLE complex Systems with information theory, G4052921322, G425668148, G451917667, G5967599077, What is the impact of the ocean fine scales on phytoplankton diversity?, Interdisciplinary Graduate School for the Blue planet
OpenAlex ID: W4413302463