Determining the Applicability of the Barotropic Approximation to the Mean Seasonal Flow Through the Tsushima/Korean Strait using Variational Assimilation

Abstract

Variational assimilation is used to combine velocity and sea-surface height anomaly (SSHA) measurements with a system of dynamics to estimate the seasonal flow through the Taushima/Korean Strait for the summer, autumn and winter seasons of 1999-2000. The velocity measurements are from two lines of moored acoustic Doppler Current profilers (ADCPs) spanning the Tsushima/Korean strait just north and south of Tsushima island and the SSHA measurements are from the TOPEX altimeter. The dynamics are the linear, time-independent, shallow-water equations and are forced by winds from the Navy Global Ocean and Atmospheric Prediction System. A weighted least-squares technique is used to determine the seasonal flow fields that simultaneously minimize the weighted residuals of the two data sets and the system of dynamics. The weights are based on expected errors, allowing the assimilation system to put more emphasis on the component of data and dynamics that are known more accurately.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 21, 2005
Accession Number
ADA448200

Entities

People

  • Gregg Jacobs
  • R. R. Leben
  • Scott Smith

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Altimeters
  • Assimilation
  • Data Sets
  • Dynamics
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flow
  • Flow Fields
  • Fungi
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Pressure Gradients
  • Residuals
  • Shallow Water
  • Underwater Acoustics
  • Water

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Oceanography.