Improving the Coastal Mean Dynamic Topography by Geodetic Combination of Tide Gauge and Satellite Altimetry

Abstract

The ocean mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the surface representation of the ocean circulation. The MDT may be determined by the ocean approach, which involves temporal averaging of numerical ocean circulation model information, or by the geodetic approach, wherein the MDT is derived using the ellipsoidal height of the mean sea surface (MSS), or mean sea level (MSL) minus the geoid as the geoid. The ellipsoidal height of the MSS might be estimated either by satellite or coastal tide gauges by connecting the tide gauge datum to the Earth-centred reference frame. In this article we present a novel approach to improve the coastal MDT, where the solution is based on both satellite altimetry and tide gauge data using new set of 302 tide gauges with ellipsoidal heights through the SONEL network. The approach was evaluated for the Northeast Atlantic coast where a dense network of GNSS-surveyed tide gauges is available. The typical misfit between tide gauge and satellite or oceanographic MDT was found to be around 9?cm. This misfit was found to be mainly due to small scale geoid errors. Similarly, we found, that a single tide gauge places only weak constraints on the coastal dynamic topography.     

利用验潮站数据进行三种潮汐模型的精度分析

采用全球分布的565个验潮站水位资料对NAO.99b,CSR4.0和TPXO7.2三种潮汐模型进行精度评估。结果表明:在全球海洋范围内,NAO.99b模型精度最高;在黄海海域,TPXO7.2模型的精度最高;在东海和南海海域,则是NAO.99b模型最优;在深海海域,三种模型精度差异不大;在浅海海域,采用同化方法的潮汐模型比采用经验方法的潮汐模型更有优势。     

Absolute Sea Level Surface Modeling for the Mediterranean from Satellite Altimeter and Tide Gauge Measurements

Changes in the height of the ocean can be described through the relative and absolute sea level changes depending on the geodetic reference the sea level records are related to. Satellite altimetry provides absolute sea level (ASL) measurements related to the global geodetic reference, whereas tide gauges provide relative sea level (RSL) measurements related to the adjacent land. This study aims at computing the ASL surfaces for different time epochs from combined satellite altimeter and tide gauge records. A method of sea level data fusion is proposed to enable modeling of the impact of present and future sea level changes on the coast. Sea surface modeling was investigated for ten different gridding methods commonly used for the interpolation of altimeter data over the open ocean and extrapolation over the coastal zones. The performance of gridding methods was assessed based on the comparison of the gridded altimeter data and corrected tide gauge measurements. Finally, the sea level surfaces related to the GRS80 global reference ellipsoid were computed for the Mediterranean Sea over the altimeter period. In addition, the current sea level trends were estimated from both sea level measurements.     

平均海平面模型的确立方法研究

针对平均海平面的定义,分别介绍了利用验潮站资料和卫星高度计资料确立平均海平面的方法原理,并对2种方法的特性及存在的问题进行了比较阐述,确定了以沿岸长期验潮站为控制条件,对卫星测高数据确定的高分辨率高精度的平均海平面网格模型进行改正,最终构建平均海平面与国家大地坐标系关系的研究方法.     

Vertical Land Motion in the Mediterranean Sea from Altimetry and Tide Gauge Stations

We have computed estimates of the rate of vertical land motion in the Mediterranean Sea from differences of sea level heights measured by the TOPEX/Poseidon radar altimeter and by a set of tide gauge stations. The comparison of data at 16 tide gauges, using both hourly data from local datasets and monthly data from the PSMSL dataset, shows a general agreement, significant differences are found at only one location. Differences of near-simultaneous, monthly and deseasoned monthly sea level height time-series have been considered in order to reduce the error in the estimated linear-term. In a subset of 23 tide gauge stations the mean accuracy of the estimated vertical rates is 2.3 ± 0.8 mm/yr. Results for various stations are in agreement with estimates of vertical land motion from geodetic methods. A comparison with vertical motion estimated by GPS at four locations shows a mean difference of ?0.04 ± 1.8 mm/yr, however the length of the GPS time-series and the number of locations are too small to draw general conclusions.     

Vertical Land Motion in the Mediterranean Sea from Altimetry and Tide Gauge Stations

We have computed estimates of the rate of vertical land motion in the Mediterranean Sea from differences of sea level heights measured by the TOPEX/Poseidon radar altimeter and by a set of tide gauge stations. The comparison of data at 16 tide gauges, using both hourly data from local datasets and monthly data from the PSMSL dataset, shows a general agreement, significant differences are found at only one location. Differences of near-simultaneous, monthly and deseasoned monthly sea level height time-series have been considered in order to reduce the error in the estimated linear-term. In a subset of 23 tide gauge stations the mean accuracy of the estimated vertical rates is 2.3 ± 0.8 mm/yr. Results for various stations are in agreement with estimates of vertical land motion from geodetic methods. A comparison with vertical motion estimated by GPS at four locations shows a mean difference of -0.04 ± 1.8 mm/yr, however the length of the GPS time-series and the number of locations are too small to draw general conclusions.     

Are Global Tide Gauge Data Stationary in Variance?

Tide gauges distributed all over the world provide valuable information for monitoring mean sea level changes. The statistical models used in estimating sea level change from the tide gauge data assume implicitly that the random model components are stationary in variance. We show that for a large number of global tide gauge data this is not the case for the seasonal part using a variate-differencing algorithm. This finding is important for assessing the reliability of the present estimates of mean sea level changes because nonstationarity of the data may have marked impact on the sea level rate estimates, especially, for the data from short records.     

利用验潮和GPS观测技术监测海平面绝对变化

GPS技术可以确定验潮站水准点的地壳垂直形变,结合验潮数据获得的海平面相对变化,可以确定海平面的绝对变化。采用我国3个沿海验潮站两期GPS观测数据,计算了这些点位的地壳垂直运动速率。提出要监测验潮站的地壳垂直运动,最好采用多年连续GPS观测数据。     

Variability of Sea Surface Heights in the Baltic Sea: An Intercomparison of Observations and Model Simulations

Sea level changes in the Baltic Sea are dominated by internal, short-term variations that are mostly caused by the ephemeral nature of atmospheric conditions over the Baltic area. Tides are small and their influence decreases from western parts of the Baltic Sea to the Baltic Proper. Superimposed to the large short-term sea level changes (up to few decimeters from day to day) are seasonal and interannual variations (centimeters to decimeters). This study focuses on the comparison of sea surface heights obtained from observations and from a high resolution oceanographic model of the Baltic Sea. From this comparison, the accuracy of the modeled sea surface variations is evaluated, which is a necessary precondition for the further use of the oceanographic model in geodetic applications. The model reproduces all observed Baltic sea level variations very reliably with an accuracy of 5 to 9 cm (rms) for short-term variations (up to 2 months) and 8 cm (rms) for long-term variations (>2 months). An additional improvement of the model can be attained by including long-period sea level variations of the North Sea. The model performs well also in the case of extreme sea level events, as is shown for a major storm surge that occurred at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in November 1995.     

Influence of the Kuroshio Fluctuations on Sea Level Variations along the South Coast of Japan

The correlation between the Kuroshio and coastal sea level south of Japan has been examined using the altimetry and tide gauge data during the period 1992–2000. The sea level varies uniformly in a region bounded by the coast and the mean Kuroshio axis, which stretches for several hundred kilometers along the coast. These variations are related with the Kuroshio velocity, as coastal sea level decreases (or increases) when the Kuroshio is faster (or slower). To the east of the Kii Peninsula, where sea level variations are different from these to the west, movement of the Kuroshio axis additionally affects coastal sea level variations.     

Sea Level Change Analysis and Models Identification Based on Short Tidal Gauge Measurements in Alexandria,Egypt

Sea level change analysis and models identification are important factors used for coastal engineering applications. Moreover, sea level change modeling is used widely to evaluate and study shoreline and climate changes. This study intends to analyze and model Alexandria, Egypt sea level change by investigating yearly tide gauge data collected in a short duration (2008–2011). The time-frequency method was used to evaluate the meteorological noise frequencies. Two models were used to predict the time series data: Neural Network Autoregressive Moving Average (NNARMA) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The time-frequency analysis and models identification results showed that no extreme events were detected for Alexandria point during the monitoring period. Therefore, the NNARMA and ANFIS models can be used to identify the sea level change. The estimates of the models were compared with the three different statistics, determination coefficient, root mean square errors, and auto-correlation function. Comparison of these results revealed that the NNARMA model performs better than the ANFIS model for the study area.     

基于T/P卫星海面测高的黄东海海面地形变化探讨

利用Topex/Posedion卫星的SSHA数据对黄、东海1993-2001年期间的平均海面地形的空间形态特征、变化速率的空间分布特征及年内变化特征等3个方面进行了分析.研究结果表明,该海区9a平均海面地形的基本特征为：东南高、西北低,由东南向西北倾斜,最大高差超过90 cm;1993-2001年期间全海区均呈现海面上升趋势,上升速率值在5～8.6 mm/a之间,海面上升的空间分异表现为南快北慢,东快西慢.海面地形的年内变化在时间上呈正弦波动,空间上中、北部区域变化速度快,年较差大;南部区域变化速度慢,年较差小;变化空间特征复杂.     

Geodetic determination of the surface topography of the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea Level Project is an international scientific observation program to unify the vertical datums of the countries of the Baltic Sea with GPS measurements. In total, 35 tide gauges on shores and islands of the Baltic were occupied with GPS in 1993. After computing a new gravimetric geoid over the Baltic Sea, it was possible to unify the datums as well as to calculate the orthometric heights and the sea surface topography values for the tide gauge stations. The results obtained are shown.     

Impact of Ocean Mean Dynamic Topography on Satellite Data Assimilation

The response of an eddy-permitting ocean model to changes imposed by the use of different mean dynamic topographies (MDT) is analyzed in a multivariate assimilation context, allowing the evaluation of this impact, not only on the surface circulation, but also on the interior ocean representation. The assimilation scheme is a reduced-order sequential Kalman filter (SEEK). In a first set of experiments, high resolution sea surface temperature, along-track sea surface height and sea surface salinity from climatology are assimilated into a 1/3° resolution North and Tropical Atlantic version of the HYCOM model. In a second experiment, in situ profile data are assimilated in addition to the surface measurements.

The first set of experiments illustrates that important differences in the representation of the horizontal model circulation pattern are related to differences in the MDT used. The objective of assimilation is to improve the representation of the 3D ocean state. However, the imperfect representation of the mean dynamic topography appears to be an important limiting factor with regard to the degree of realism obtained in the simulated flow.

Vertical temperature and salinity profiles are key observations to drive a general circulation ocean model toward a more realistic state. The second set of experiments shows that assimilating them in addition to sea surface measurements is a far from trivial exercise. A specific difficulty is due to inconsistencies between the dynamic topography diagnosed from in situ observations and that diagnosed from sea surface height. These two fields obtained from different data sources do not contain exactly the same information. In order to overcome this difficulty, a strategy is proposed and validated.     

Comparison of Sea Surface Heights Derived from Satellite Altimetry and from Ocean Bottom Pressure Gauges: The SW Pacific MOTEVAS Project

A bottom pressure gauge (BPG) was installed in proximity (3.7 km at closest approach) of Jason-1 and formerly TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) ground track No. 238 at the Wusi site, located ∼ 10 km offshore off the west coast of Santo Island, Vanuatu, Southwest (SW) Pacific. Sea level variations are inferred from the bottom pressure, seawater temperature, and salinity, corrected for the measured surface atmospheric pressure. The expansion of the water column (steric increase in sea surface height, SSH) due to temperature and salinity changes is approximated by the equation of state. We compare time series of SSH derived from T/P Side B altimeter Geophysical Data Records (GDR) and Jason-1 Interim Geophysical Data Records (IGDR), with the gauge-inferred sea level variations. Since altimeter SSH is a geocentric measurement, whereas the gauge-inferred observation is a relative sea level measurement, SSH comparison is conducted with the means of both series removed in this study. In addition, high-rate (1-Hz) bottom pressure implied wave heights (H_1/3) are compared with the significant wave height (SWH) measured by Jason-1. Noticeable discrepancy is found in this comparison for high waves, however the differences do not contribute significantly to the difference in sea level variations observed between the altimeter and the pressure gauge. In situ atmospheric pressure measurements are also used to verify the inverse barometer (IB) and the dry troposphere corrections (DTC) used in the Jason IGDR. We observe a bias between the IGDR corrections and those derived from the local sensors. Standard deviations of the sea level differences between T/P and BPG is 52 mm and is 48 mm between Jason and BPG, indicating that both altimeters have similar performance at the Wusi site and that it is feasible to conduct long-term monitoring of altimetry at such a site.     

Accuracy assessment of global ocean tide models in the South China Sea using satellite altimeter and tide gauge data

In this study, to meet the need for accurate tidal prediction, the accuracy of global ocean tide models was assessed in the South China Sea(0°–26°N, 99°–121°E). Seven tide models, namely, DTU10, EOT11 a, FES2014, GOT4.8,HAMTIDE12, OSU12 and TPXO8, were considered. The accuracy of eight major tidal constituents(i.e., Q₁, O₁, P₁,K₁, N₂, M₂, S₂ and K₂) were assessed for the shallow water and coastal areas based ...     

Comparison of Sea Surface Heights Derived from Satellite Altimetry and from Ocean Bottom Pressure Gauges: The SW Pacific MOTEVAS Project

A bottom pressure gauge (BPG) was installed in proximity (3.7 km at closest approach) of Jason-1 and formerly TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) ground track No. 238 at the Wusi site, located ～ 10 km offshore off the west coast of Santo Island, Vanuatu, Southwest (SW) Pacific. Sea level variations are inferred from the bottom pressure, seawater temperature, and salinity, corrected for the measured surface atmospheric pressure. The expansion of the water column (steric increase in sea surface height, SSH) due to temperature and salinity changes is approximated by the equation of state. We compare time series of SSH derived from T/P Side B altimeter Geophysical Data Records (GDR) and Jason-1 Interim Geophysical Data Records (IGDR), with the gauge-inferred sea level variations. Since altimeter SSH is a geocentric measurement, whereas the gauge-inferred observation is a relative sea level measurement, SSH comparison is conducted with the means of both series removed in this study. In addition, high-rate (1-Hz) bottom pressure implied wave heights (H _1/3 ) are compared with the significant wave height (SWH) measured by Jason-1. Noticeable discrepancy is found in this comparison for high waves, however the differences do not contribute significantly to the difference in sea level variations observed between the altimeter and the pressure gauge. In situ atmospheric pressure measurements are also used to verify the inverse barometer (IB) and the dry troposphere corrections (DTC) used in the Jason IGDR. We observe a bias between the IGDR corrections and those derived from the local sensors. Standard deviations of the sea level differences between T/P and BPG is 52 mm and is 48 mm between Jason and BPG, indicating that both altimeters have similar performance at the Wusi site and that it is feasible to conduct long-term monitoring of altimetry at such a site.     

Impact of Ocean Mean Dynamic Topography on Satellite Data Assimilation

The response of an eddy-permitting ocean model to changes imposed by the use of different mean dynamic topographies (MDT) is analyzed in a multivariate assimilation context, allowing the evaluation of this impact, not only on the surface circulation, but also on the interior ocean representation. The assimilation scheme is a reduced-order sequential Kalman filter (SEEK). In a first set of experiments, high resolution sea surface temperature, along-track sea surface height and sea surface salinity from climatology are assimilated into a 1/3° resolution North and Tropical Atlantic version of the HYCOM model. In a second experiment, in situ profile data are assimilated in addition to the surface measurements.

The first set of experiments illustrates that important differences in the representation of the horizontal model circulation pattern are related to differences in the MDT used. The objective of assimilation is to improve the representation of the 3D ocean state. However, the imperfect representation of the mean dynamic topography appears to be an important limiting factor with regard to the degree of realism obtained in the simulated flow.

Vertical temperature and salinity profiles are key observations to drive a general circulation ocean model toward a more realistic state. The second set of experiments shows that assimilating them in addition to sea surface measurements is a far from trivial exercise. A specific difficulty is due to inconsistencies between the dynamic topography diagnosed from in situ observations and that diagnosed from sea surface height. These two fields obtained from different data sources do not contain exactly the same information. In order to overcome this difficulty, a strategy is proposed and validated.     

A geodetic investigation of the British sea slope anomaly

Abstract

A project was initiated in 1986 to investigate an apparent significant discrepancy between geodetic and oceanographic leveling determinations of mean sea level around the coast of Great Britain. In oceanographic terms this discrepancy is equivalent to a sea slope in a North‐South direction.

The project, which lasted for 3 years, has been carried out in conjunction with research groups at the University of Edinburgh, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, and the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. It has involved combining Global Positioning System (GPS)‐derived ellipsoidal height differences with a high‐precision geoid, leading to an independent determination of the orthometric heights of tide gauges along the east coast of Great Britain.

A major GPS campaign was observed in May 1988. Measurements were made at time gauges between Leith and Lowestoft while simultaneously making measurements at fiducial sites. The results of the 1988 and subsequent campaigns are presented and discussed, and details are given of further observation campaigns to monitor the vertical movement of tide gauges around the coast of Britain by GPS.     

15年测高资料反演南海北部潮汐结果的分析

在调和分析的基础上,结合差比关系的运用,利用T／P和Jason-1卫星测高数据进行了南海北部潮汐状况的反演、分析。其中沿轨数据和交点数据的海面异常（SLA）样本标准差（STD）值计算表明,对于15年资料而言,潮汐分析结果已基本一致。对3年轨道改变后的T／P资料分析发现,运用差比分析的办法能使其分析精度有20％左右的提高,达到与15年资料相近的分析效果。最后文章将近岸的反演结果与实测值作了对比,得出在大多数地区（除水动力复杂区域外）,沿轨数据的反演水位与实测值的误差均值小于19cm,STD值小于14cm。