Observation of the surface circulation of the Mediterranean Sea from space

[en] In the present work mesoscale eddies of the Western Mediterranean are being investigated by means of thermal imagery and altimetry data. Comparison of 1489 anticyclonic and 782 cyclonic eddy manifestations found in sea surface temperature (SST) imagery on an analysis of a 3-year-long dataset (covering the period from 2011 to 2013) with corresponding sea level anomaly (SLA) fields showed that only anticyclonic eddies exceeding ca. 70 km in diameter can be more or less sustainably manifested in the fields of SLA and its derivatives (such as relative vorticity). Detection of cyclonic eddies on base of SLA data, presumably due to the small spatial and temporal scales of such eddies and their non-geostrophic nature, is problematic.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Karimova, Svetlana ; Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research (GHER)

Language :

English

Title :

Observation of the surface circulation of the Mediterranean Sea from space

Publication date :

August 2016

Event name :

ESA Living Planet Symposium 2016

Event organizer :

ESA

Event place :

Prague, Czechia

Event date :

from 09-05-2016 to 13-05-2016

Audience :

International

Main work title :

Proc. ESA Living Planet Symposium 2016

Author, co-author :

Ouwehand, L.

Publisher :

ESA Communications, Noordwijk, Netherlands

ISBN/EAN :

978-92-9221-305-3

Collection name :

SP-740

European Projects :

FP7 - 600405 - BEIPD - Be International Post-Doc - Euregio and Greater Region

Funders :

CE - Commission Européenne [BE]

Available on ORBi :

since 16 January 2017

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Bibliography

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