Long-Term Stability of Sea Surface Topography from Topex/Poseidon Altimetry

The stability of the mean ocean level was investigated using the T/P altimeter data of 1993-1997 in 39 blocks of about 30° by 30°: 20 blocks forming the Pacific Ocean, 10 the Atlantic, and 9 blocks in the Indian Ocean. The 1993-1997 yearly means were found to be nearly constant, the computed linear terms came out as: (0.9±1.3) mm/year for the Pacific, (0.3±1.1) mm/year for the Atlantic, (–0.7 ± 1.4) mm/year for the Indian Ocean. No SST model was used in the solution.     

中国近海海平面变化区域相关分析

由测高卫星升、降弧段海面高交叉点约束方法,用TOPEX／POSEIDON测高数据计算了黄海、东海、南海海域的海平面变化;分析了三个海区海平面变化的相关性;在频域内讨论了它们之间的相干性;分析了海水面积随纬度带的变化对不同纬度分布的海区海平面变化量的影响。     

南海地区岩石圈有效弹性厚度估计

分析了测高卫星同时应用于重力模型和地形模型时对计算南海地区岩石圈有效弹性厚度的影响,该影响可能会高估有效弹性厚度值.对比多项研究认为,南沙群岛地区岩石圈的有效弹性厚度约为9 km.通过对南海地区岩石圈的有效弹性厚度分布进行计算发现,南海海盆的有效弹性厚度最小约为4 km,南海周边的有效弹性厚度值较高,与海底岩石圈年龄的...     

海洋测高卫星的激光定轨

综述了海洋测高卫星激光定轨的发展近况,论述了我国将发射的HY-2海洋二号卫星实现激光定轨的技术途径及其达到厘米级精度定轨的可能性。     

Hydraulic visibility: Using satellite altimetry to parameterize a hydraulic model of an ungauged reach of a braided river

What hydraulic information can be gained from remotely sensed observations of a river's surface? In this study, we analyze the relationship between river bed undulations and water surfaces for an ungauged reach of the Xingu River, a first‐order tributary of the Amazon river. This braided reach is crosscut more than 10 times by a ENVISAT (ENVironmental SATellite) track that extends over 100 km. Rating curves based on a modeled discharge series and altimetric measurements are used, including the zero‐flow depth Z ₀ parameter, which describes river's bathymetry. River widths are determined from JERS (Japanese Earth Ressources Satellite) images. Hydrodynamic laws predict that irregularities in the geometry of a river bed produce spatial and temporal variations in the water level, as well as in its slope. Observation of these changes is a goal of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission, which has a final objective of determining river discharge. First, the concept of hydraulic visibility is introduced, and the seasonality of water surface slope is highlighted along with different flow regimes and reach behaviors. Then, we propose a new single‐thread effective hydraulic approach for modeling braided rivers flows, based on the observation scales of current satellite altimetry. The effective hydraulic model is able to reproduce water surface elevations derived by satellite altimetry, and it shows that hydrodynamical signatures are more visible in areas where the river bed morphology varies significantly and for reaches with strong downstream control. The results of this study suggest that longitudinal variations of the slope might be an interesting criteria for the analysis of river segmentation into elementary reaches for the Surface Water Ocean Topography mission that will provide continuous measurements of the water surface elevations, the slopes, and the reach widths.     

对西北太平洋海域表层密度流的初步探索

在文［９］［１０］关于西北太平洋海面动力地形研究的基础上,本文对该海域表层密度流进行了初步探索。特别是用０．５°×０．５°方区多年船测资料,对西部边界流——黑潮进行了专门研究。结果表明,该海域表面密度流模式与主要由风驱动的大洋总的环流模式基本一致。据研究结果,对文［９］给出的海面动力地形和全球海面动力地形的某些特征作出了解释。另外,还就卫星测高在确定大洋环流的局限性和若干概念性问题提出了明确的看法。     

Gravity Anomaly Map over The Black Sea Using Corrected Sea Surface Heights from ERS1, ERS2 and Topex/Poseidon Satellite Altimetry Missions

Approximately nine-year data from ERS1, ERS2 and TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) satellite altimetry missions have been used for the recovery of gravity anomalies over the Black Sea. The Corrected Sea Surface Height product of Aviso/Altimetry has been proven to be homogeneous after a cross-over adjustment. The Least Squares Collocation method was applied in a so-called remove-restore procedure. The residual geoid heights, obtained by subtracting EGM96 geoid heights from cross-over adjusted sea surface heights, were inverted to recover residual gravity anomalies in a grid structure over the Black Sea. Finally, EGM96 free air gravity anomalies were added to the predicted residual gravity anomalies to obtain the free air gravity anomalies. In order to check the consistency with respect to an external source, these computed free air gravity anomalies were compared to ship gravity observations, and to alternative satellite altimetry derived gravity anomalies. Comparisons with the observed gravity data yielded that external consistency of the gravity anomalies computed in this study is about 3 mGal for individual ship tracks. Overall external consistency in the test area is 4.8 mGal. Comparison with other satellite altimetry derived gravity anomalies presented a good agreement.     

A new ellipsoidal gravimetric, satellite altimetry and astronomic boundary value problem, a case study: The geoid of Iran

A new gravimetric, satellite altimetry, astronomical ellipsoidal boundary value problem for geoid computations has been developed and successfully tested. This boundary value problem has been constructed for gravity observables of the type (i) gravity potential, (ii) gravity intensity (i.e. modulus of gravity acceleration), (iii) astronomical longitude, (iv) astronomical latitude and (v) satellite altimetry observations. The ellipsoidal coordinates of the observation points have been considered as known quantities in the set-up of the problem in the light of availability of GPS coordinates. The developed boundary value problem is ellipsoidal by nature and as such takes advantage of high precision GPS observations in the set-up. The algorithmic steps of the solution of the boundary value problem are as follows:

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and of the ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal of the effect of global gravity and the isostasy field from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth the effect of the residual masses at the radius of up to 55 km from the computational point.

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the global gravity and isostasy on the geoidal undulations.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the water masses outside the reference ellipsoid within a radius of 55 km around the computational point.

- Least squares solution of the observation equations of the incremental quantities derived from aforementioned steps in order to obtain the incremental gravity potential at the surface of the reference ellipsoid.

- The removed effects at the application points are restored on the surface of reference ellipsoid.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Bruns’ formula for converting the potential values on the surface of the reference ellipsoid into the geoidal heights with respect to the reference ellipsoid.

- Computation of the geoid of Iran has successfully tested this new methodology.

Altimeter Signal-to-Noise for Deep Ocean Processes in Operational Systems

The ocean signal for this study is the sea surface height due to the slowly varying (greater than 5-day) ocean processes, which are predominantly the deep ocean mesoscale. These processes are the focus of present assimilation systems for monitoring and predicting ocean circulation due to ocean fronts and eddies and the associated environmental changes that impact real time activities in areas with depths greater than about 200 m. By this definition, signal-to-noise may be estimated directly from altimeter data sets through a crossover point analysis. The RMS variability in crossover differences is due to instrument noise, errors in environmental corrections to the satellite observation, and short time period oceanic variations. The signal-to-noise ratio indicates that shallow areas are typically not well observed due to the high frequency fluctuations. Many deep ocean areas also contain significant high frequency variability such as the subpolar latitudes, which have large atmospheric pressure systems moving through, and these in turn generate large errors in the inverse barometer correction. Understanding the spatial variations of signal to noise is a necessary prerequisite for correct assimilation of the data into operational systems.