Technical Description of the Optimum Thermal Interpolation System. Version 1. A Model for Oceanographic Data Assimilation
Abstract
The Optimum Thermal Interpolation System (OTIS) is an ocean thermal analysis product developed for real-time operational use at the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center. OTIS is expected to become the centerpiece of the Navy's ocean thermal analysis and prediction capabilities both ashore and afloat. It provides a rigorous framework for the synergistic combination of real-time data, climatology, and predictions from ocean mixed-layer and circulation models to produce the Navy's most accurate representation of ocean thermal structure on global and regional scales. OTIS is particularly well suited for utilization of remotely sensed data from satellites because of its ability to account for the relative accuracies of various types of data. OTIS is based on the optimum interpolation (OI) data assimilation methodology, Basically, the OI technique maps observations distributed nonuniformly in space and time to a uniformly gridded synoptic representation, or analysis, of the target field. The analysis is constructed as a first-guess background field plus an anomaly relative to that field. The analyzed anomaly at a particular gridpoint is given by a weighted combination of observed and model-predicted anomalies, with the space- time autocorrelation function for the resolvable anomalies governing which observations contribute. Keywords: Satellite, Remote sensing, Thermodynamic ocean models, Ocean thermal analysis, Statistical analysis, Data assimilation, Ocean thermal structure, Optimum interpolation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA226453
Entities
People
- Kenneth D. Pollak
- Patricia A. Phoebus
- R. M. Clancy
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory