Establishing a NOAA Operational Data Center for Surface Currents Derived from Satellite Altimeters and Scatterometers: Pilot Study for the Tropical Pacific, including the Hawaiian Islands and US Territorial Islands
Abstract
This project, which now has the working name OSCAR (Ocean Surface Currents Analysis Real-Time), develops a processing system and data center to provide operational ocean surface velocity fields from satellite altimeter and vector wind data. The regional focus is the tropical Pacific, where the value of this data is demonstrated for a variety of uses, specifically large-scale climate diagnostics and prediction as well as fisheries management and recruitment and monitoring debris drift, larvae drift, oil spills, fronts, and eddies. The end product will be to leave in place a turnkey system running at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), with an established user clientele and easy internet data access. The method to derive surface currents with satellite altimeter and scatterometer data is the outcome of several years of NASA-sponsored research. This project transitions the capability to operational oceanographic applications. The near-term objective is to provide data that is updated on a weekly basis, and to carry out a thorough validation analysis. The data have been very useful in monitoring the El Nino in 2002 and its fading in early 2003, and in evaluating forecasting models.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 17, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA489970
Entities
People
- Gary S. Lagerloef
- Gary T. Mitchum
- Mark Bourassa
- Robert Cheney
Organizations
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration