Data assimilation for a coastal area morphodynamic model: Morecambe Bay

This paper investigates the use of data assimilation in coastal area morphodynamic modelling using Morecambe Bay as a study site. A simple model of the bay has been enhanced with a data assimilation scheme to better predict large-scale changes in bathymetry observed in the bay over a 3-year period. The 2DH decoupled morphodynamic model developed for the work is described, as is the optimal interpolation scheme used to assimilate waterline observations into the model run. Each waterline was acquired from a SAR satellite image and is essentially a contour of the bathymetry at some level within the inter-tidal zone of the bay. For model parameters calibrated against validation observations, model performance is good, even without data assimilation. However the use of data assimilation successfully compensates for a particular failing of the model, and helps to keep the model bathymetry on track. It also improves the ability of the model to predict future bathymetry. Although the benefits of data assimilation are demonstrated using waterline observations, any observations of morphology could potentially be used. These results suggest that data assimilation should be considered for use in future coastal area morphodynamic models.     

Comparison among four kinds of data of sea surface wind stress in the South China Sea

By using remote sensing (ERS) data, FSU data, COADS data and Hellerman & Rosen-stein objective analysis data to analyze the sea surface wind stress in the South China Sea, it is found that the remote sensing data have higher resolution and more reasonable values. Therefore we suggest that remote sensing data be chosen in the study of climatological features of sea surface wind stress and its seasonal variability in the South China Sea, especially in the study of small and middle scale eddies.     

The Spatial Distribution of Caprellidea (Crustacea: Amphipoda): A Stress Bioindicator in Ceuta (North Africa, Gibraltar Area)

Abstract. The caprellid (Crustacea: Amphipoda) community associated with the alga Cystoseira usneoides (L.) Roberts 1967 was studied on a spatial scale in relation to the influence of environmental factors on the coast of Ceuta (North Africa) using multivariate analyses. Twenty-two stations were sampled and five environmental factors were tested (hydrodynamics, silting, suspended organic matter, organic matter in silt and suspended solids). The spatial distribution of the caprellid community reflected the physico-chemical conditions of the coast. Phtisica marina Slabber 1769 was the only species present at the stations of the harbour of Ceuta, characterised by the lowest values of hydrodynamics and the highest values of silting, suspended organic matter and suspended solids. The most exposed stations (high hydrodynamics and low values of silting, dissolved organic matter and suspension solids) were mainly dominated by Caprella danilevskii Czerniavskii 1868 and C. penantis Leach 1814. These two species have developed a "parallel" posture that enables them to attach strongly to the substratum and thus inhabit areas subjected to heavy exposure or strong currents. Caprella acanthifera Leach 1814 and Pseudoprotella phasma (Montagu 1804) preferred stations characterised by moderate values of silting and suspended solids, such as those located in the coastal areas in front of the city of Ceuta, but these species were not found at the most stressed harbour stations.     

一个湍能封闭模型对风暴潮海底底应力的应用研究

将一个三维湍能封闭模型应用于开阔海区的风暴潮，通过数值计算探讨了Ｔａｙｌｏｒ底摩擦二次率的拖曳系数随空间的分布及拖曳系数与水深、海底粗糙度、风向和风速等因素的关系。本文对底摩擦二次率的可靠性做了评价。     

A Reconstruction of Observed Profiles in the Sea East of Japan Using Vertical Coupled Temperature-Salinity EOF Modes

It is important to estimate hard-to-observe parameters in the ocean interior from easy-to-observe parameters. This study therefore demostrates a reconstruction of observed temperature and salinity profiles of the sea east of Japan (30°≈40°N, 140°≈150°E). The reconstruction was done by estimating suboptimal state from several values of the observed profiles and/or sea surface dynamic height (SDH) calculated from the profiles. The estimation used a variational method with vertical coupled temperature-salinity empirical orthogonal function (EOF) modes. Profiles of temperature and salinity in the subtropical region are effectively reconstructed from in situ temperature profile data, or sea surface temperature (SST) and SDH. For example, the analyzed temperature field from SST and SDH has an accuracy to within 1°C in the subtropical region. Salinity in the sea north of Kuroshio, however, is difficult to estimate because of its complex variability which is less correlated with temperature than in the subtropical region. Sea surface salinity is useful to estimate the subsurface structure. We also show the possibility that the estimation is improved by considering nonlinearity in the equation calculating SDH from temperature and salinity analysis values in order to examine the misfit between analysis and observation. Analysis using TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetry data instead of SDH was also performed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nonparametric Estimates of the Sea State Bias for the Jason-1 Radar Altimeter

The Jason-1 sea state bias (SSB) is analyzed in depth from the first year of GDR products. Compared to previous missions, this work benefits from two aspects of the empirical determination of the SSB from the altimetric data themselves. First, from a methodological point of view, a nonparametric technique (NP) has been developed and largely tested on TOPEX/Poseidon 1, GFO and Envisat data. The NP estimator has proven to be a useful tool in the SSB estimation, and it is now mature enough to be used for a refined analysis. On the other hand, the SSB can be extracted from three different data sets (crossovers, collinear data, and residuals) with different characteristics. It is then possible to cross calibrate various estimations of the SSB models and to determine the most accurate one. A systematic comparison is made between these different estimates for the Jason-1 altimeter. The collinear and crossover data sets yield very similar estimates despite their difference of spatial and temporal distributions. These SSB models assure consistency with the TOPEX mission when comparing Jason-1 and TOPEX residuals during the tandem phase. Thanks to the present work, the impact of the short wavelengths filtering on the SSB estimation is evidenced. More generally, our understanding of potential errors affecting the sea surface height and their impact onto the SSB estimation is also improved.     

State Estimation of the North Pacific Ocean by a Four-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation Experiment

A four-dimensional variational data assimilation system has been applied to an experiment to describe the dynamic state of the North Pacific Ocean. A synthesis of available observational records and a sophisticated ocean general circulation model produces a dynamically consistent dataset, which, in contrast to the nudging approach, provides realistic features of the seasonally-varying ocean circulation with no artificial sources/sinks for temperature and salinity fields. This new dataset enables us to estimate heat and water mass transports in addition to the qualification of water mass formation and movement processes. A sensitivity experiment on our assimilation system reveals that the origin of the North Pacific Intermediate Water can be traced back to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea in the subarctic region and to the subtropical Kuroshio region further south. These results demonstrate that our data assimilation system is a very powerful tool for the identification and characterization of ocean variabilities and for our understanding of the dynamic state of ocean circulation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.