Reconstruction of ocean currents at scales shorter than 30 km from existing satellite observations: eddies along the Iberian Coast

Abstract

Along-track altimetric measurements of Sea Surface Heights (SSH) are very well suited to quantify across -track currents. However, the spatial resolution of derived 2D velocities is restricted to scales above 100 -150 km and the limited number of altimeters can lead to errors in the location of currents. On the contrary, infrared measurements of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) are well suited to locate flow patterns but it is difficult to extract quantitative estimations of ocean currents.To overcome the previous constrains we have developed a methodology able to provide enhanced 2D surface currents. Our approach opens the door to retrieve the velocity field associated to structures smaller than 30 km, not accessible through the standard SSH maps. Results are compared with drifting buoy trajectories showing good agreement