Real-time Reconstruction of Surface Velocities from Satellite Observations in the Alboran Sea

Special issue Ten Years of Remote Sensing at Barcelona Expert Center.-- 18 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, 1 appendix .-- Altimetric data was produced by the GlobCurrent Data User Element project and is available through its web site: http://www.globcurrent.org. Infrared images are available through the Insitut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) at https://coo.icm.csic.es/site-page/satellite-data as well as Sea Surface Salinity MapsSurface currents in the Alboran Sea are characterized by a very fast evolution that is not well captured by altimetric maps due to sampling limitations. On the contrary, satellite infrared measurements provide high resolution synoptic images of the ocean at high temporal rate, allowing to capture the evolution of the flow. The capability of Surface Quasi-Geostrophic (SQG) dynamics to retrieve surface currents from thermal images was evaluated by comparing resulting velocities with in situ observations provided by surface drifters. A difficulty encountered comes from the lack of information about ocean salinity. We propose to exploit the strong relationship between salinity and temperature to identify water masses with distinctive salinity in satellite images and use this information to correct buoyancy. Once corrected, our results show that the SQG approach can retrieve ocean currents slightly better to that of near-real-time currents derived from altimetry in general, but much better in areas badly sampled by altimeters such as the area to the east of the Strait of Gibraltar. Although this area is far from the geostrophic equilibrium, the results show that the good sampling of infrared radiometers allows at least retrieving the direction of ocean currents in this area. The proposed approach can be used in other areas of the ocean for which water masses with distinctive salinity can be identified from satellite observationsThis research was funded by European Space Agency grant number 4000109513/13/I-LG and by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund grants numbers ESP2015-67549-C3-1-R and CTM2016-79474-R. JIF was funded by Fundación General CSIC through Programa ComFuturoWith the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI

Real-time reconstruction of surface velocities from satellite observations in the Alboran Sea

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Ten Years of Remote Sensing at Barcelona Expert Center

Special Issue of Remote Sensing: Ten Years of Remote Sensing at Barcelona Expert CenterThe Barcelona Expert Centre (BEC) (http://bec.icm.csic.es) is a joint initiative between the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). It was created in 2007 to provide support to the Spanish SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission activities. Nowadays, BEC activities cover a wide variety of topics: - Improvements on calibration, image reconstruction and stability of radiometric data. - Synergy of observations from different sensors and data sources. - Retrieval of geophysical variables: forward modeling and non-linear inversion. - Validation and quality control - Assimilation into atmospheric and ocean models. - Generation of added-value products at Levels 3 and 4. This Special Issue is mainly dedicated to publishing papers on new scientific results covering topics, such as: - Microwave radiometry, scatterometry, SAR, GNSS-R. - Sensor calibration. - Image reconstruction. - Ocean Remote Sensing: salinity, winds, sea ice, currents, temperature, etc. - Soil Moisture. - Retrieval algorithms.- SMOS Third Mission Reprocessing after 10 Years in Orbit https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101645. - Deriving VTEC Maps from SMOS Radiometric Data https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101604. - Real-time Reconstruction of Surface Velocities from Satellite Observations in the Alboran Sea https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12040724. - Assessment with Controlled In-Situ Data of the Dependence of L-Band Radiometry on Sea-Ice Thickness https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12040650. - Assessment of Multi-Scale SMOS and SMAP Soil Moisture Products across the Iberian Peninsula https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030570. - Assimilation of Satellite Salinity for Modelling the Congo River Plume https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12010011. - Quantifying Tidal Fluctuations in Remote Sensing Infrared SST Observations https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192313. - Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) Benefits for the Copernicus Level 4 Sea-Surface Salinity Processing Chain https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11151818. - In Situ and Satellite Sea Surface Salinity in the Algerian Basin Observed through ABACUS Glider Measurements and BEC SMOS Regional Products https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11111361. - A Synergetic Approach for the Space-Based Sea Surface Currents Retrieval in the Mediterranean Sea https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11111285. - Wide Field of View Microwave Interferometric Radiometer Imaging https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11060682. - Dominant Features of Global Surface Soil Moisture Variability Observed by the SMOS Satellite https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11010095. - Assessment of Root Zone Soil Moisture Estimations from SMAP, SMOS and MODIS Observations https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10070981. - Surface Temperature and Chlorophyll Concentration Coherence https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12071153Peer reviewe