Coastal altimetry products in the Strait of Gibraltar

This paper analyzes the availability and accuracy of coastal altimetry sea level products in the Strait of Gibraltar. All possible repeats of two sections of the Envisat and AltiKa ground-tracks were used in the eastern and western portions of the strait. For Envisat, along-track sea level anomalies (SLAs) at 18-Hz posting rate were computed using ranges from two sources, namely, the official Sensor Geophysical Data Records (SGDRs) and the outputs of a coastal waveform retracker, the Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform (ALES) retracker; in addition, SLAs at 1 Hz were obtained from the Centre for Topographic studies of the Ocean and Hydrosphere (CTOH). For AltiKa, along-track SLA at 40 Hz was also computed both from SGDR and ALES ranges. The sea state bias correction was recomputed for the ALES-retracked Envisat SLA. The quality of these altimeter products was validated using two tide gauges located on the southern coast of Spain. For Envisat, the availability of data close to the coast depends crucially on the strategy followed for data screening. Most of the rejected data were due to the radar instrument operating in a low-precision nonocean mode. We observed an improvement of about 20% in the accuracy of the Envisat SLAs from ALES compared to the standard (SGDR) and the reprocessed CTOH data sets. AltiKa shows higher accuracy, with no significant differences between SGDR and ALES. The use of products from both missions allows longer times series, leading to a better understanding of the hydrodynamic processes in the study area

Characterizing the transition from balanced to unbalanced motions in the Southern California Current

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 124(3), (2019): 2088-2109, doi:10.1029/2018JC014583.As observations and models improve their resolution of oceanic motions at ever finer horizontal scales, interest has grown in characterizing the transition from the geostrophically balanced flows that dominate at large‐scale to submesoscale turbulence and waves that dominate at small scales. In this study we examine the mesoscale‐to‐submesoscale (100 to 10 km) transition in an eastern boundary current, the southern California Current System (CCS), using repeated acoustic Doppler current profiler transects, sea surface height from high‐resolution nadir altimetry and output from a (1/48)° global model simulation. In the CCS, the submesoscale is as energetic as in western boundary current regions, but the mesoscale is much weaker, and as a result the transition lacks the change in kinetic energy (KE) spectral slope observed for western boundary currents. Helmholtz and vortex‐wave decompositions of the KE spectra are used to identify balanced and unbalanced contributions. At horizontal scales greater than 70 km, we find that observed KE is dominated by balanced geostrophic motions. At scales from 40 to 10 km, unbalanced contributions such as inertia‐gravity waves contribute as much as balanced motions. The model KE transition occurs at longer scales, around 125 km. The altimeter spectra are consistent with acoustic Doppler current profiler/model spectra at scales longer than 70/125 km, respectively. Observed seasonality is weak. Taken together, our results suggest that geostrophic velocities can be diagnosed from sea surface height on scales larger than about 70 km in the southern CCS.This research was funded by NASA (NNX13AE44G, NNX13AE85G, NNX16AH67G, NNX16AO5OH, and NNX17AH53G). We thank Sung Yong Kim for providing the high‐frequency radar spectral estimates and the two anonymous reviewers for providing useful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript. High‐frequency ALES data for Jason‐1 and Jason‐2 altimeters are available upon request (https://openadb.dgfi.tum.de/en/contact/ALES). Both AltiKa and Sentinel‐3 altimeter products were produced and distributed by the Copernicus Marine and Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS; http://www.marine.copernicus.eu). D. M. worked on the modeling component of this study at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). High‐end computing resources were provided by the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division of the Ames Research Center. The LLC output can be obtained from the ECCO project (ftp://ecco.jpl.nasa.gov/ECCO2/LLC4320/). The ADCP data are available at the Joint Archive for Shipboard ADCP data (JASADCP; http://ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu/sadcp).2019-08-2

Barystatic and steric sea level variations in the Baltic Sea and implications of water exchange with the North Sea in the satellite era

Satellite altimetry, satellite gravimetry, and in-situ subsurface salinity and temperature profiles are used to investigate the total, barystatic, and steric sea level variations in the Baltic Sea, respectively. To estimate the steric sea level, the density variations are weighted in deeper layers to prevent overestimation of their contribution. We show that the sum of barystatic and steric components exhibits excellent cross correlation (0.9) with satellite altimetry sea level variations and also explains up to 84% of total signal variability from 2002 to 2019. Considering the dominance of barystatic sea level variations in the basin and the limitation of satellite gravimetry in resolving the mass change in water-land transition zones (known as the leakage problem), the mismatch is likely attributed to the inadequate accuracy of the barystatic datasets. The total sea level and its contributors are further decomposed into seasonal, interannual, and decadal temporal components. It is shown that despite its insignificant contributions to seasonal and interannual changes, the steric sea level plays an important role in decadal variations. Additionally, we show that the interannual variations of the barystatic sea level are governed by the North Atlantic Oscillation in the basin. The sea level variation in the North Sea is also examined to deduce the water exchange patterns on different time scales. A drop in the North Sea level can be seen from 2005 to 2011 which is followed by the Baltic Sea level with a ~3-year lag, implying the outflow from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea

ALES+: Adapting a homogenous ocean retracker for satellite altimetry to sea ice leads, coastal and inland waters

Water level from sea ice-covered oceans is particularly challenging to retrieve with satellite radar altimeters due to the different shapes assumed by the returned signal compared with the standard open ocean waveforms. Valid measurements are scarce in large areas of the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, because sea level can only be estimated in the openings in the sea ice (leads and polynyas). Similar signal-related problems affect also measurements in coastal and inland waters. This study presents a fitting (also called retracking) strategy (ALES+) based on a subwaveform retracker that is able to adapt the fitting of the signal depending on the sea state and on the slope of its trailing edge. The algorithm modifies the existing Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform retracker originally designed for coastal waters, and is applied to Envisat and ERS-2 missions. The validation in a test area of the Arctic Ocean demonstrates that the presented strategy is more precise than the dedicated ocean and sea ice retrackers available in the mission products. It decreases the retracking open ocean noise by over 1 cm with respect to the standard ocean retracker and is more precise by over 1 cm with respect to the standard sea ice retracker used for fitting specular echoes. Compared to an existing open ocean altimetry dataset, the presented strategy increases the number of sea level retrievals in the sea ice-covered area and the correlation with a local tide gauge. Further tests against in-situ data show that also the quality of coastal retrievals increases compared to the standard ocean product in the last 6 km within the coast. ALES+ improves the sea level determination at high latitudes and is adapted to fit reflections from any water surface. If used in the open ocean and in the coastal zone, it improves the current official products based on ocean retrackers. First results in the inland waters show that the correlation between water heights from ALES+ and from in-situ measurement is always over 0.95

PPARγ Pro12Ala and ACE ID polymorphisms are associated with BMI and fat distribution, but not metabolic syndrome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) results from the combined effect of environmental and genetic factors. We investigated the possible association of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2 (PPARγ2) Pro12Ala and Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) I/D polymorphisms with MetS and interaction between these genetic variants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three hundred sixty four unrelated Caucasian subjects were enrolled. Waist circumference, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Body composition was estimated by impedance analysis; MetS was diagnosed by the NCEP-ATPIII criteria. A fasting blood sample was obtained for glucose, insulin, lipid profile determination, and DNA isolation for genotyping.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of MetS did not differ across PPARγ2 or ACE polymorphisms. Carriers of PPARγ2 Ala allele had higher BMI and fat-mass but lower systolic blood pressure compared with Pro/Pro homozygotes. A significant PPARγ2 gene-gender interaction was observed in the modulation of BMI, fat mass, and blood pressure, with significant associations found in women only. A PPARγ2-ACE risk genotype combination for BMI and fat mass was found, with ACE DD/PPARγ2 Ala subjects having a higher BMI (p = 0.002) and Fat Mass (p = 0.002). Pro12Ala was independently associated with waist circumference independent of BMI and gender.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Carriers of PPARγ2 Ala allele had higher BMI and fat-mass but not a worse metabolic profile, possibly because of a more favorable adipose tissue distribution. A gene interaction exists between Pro12Ala and ACE I/D on BMI and fat mass. Further studies are needed to assess the contribution of Pro12Ala polymorphism in adiposity distribution.</p

Dynamic ocean topography of the northern Nordic seas: a comparison between satellite altimetry and ocean modeling

The dynamic ocean topography (DOT) of the polar seas can be described by satellite altimetry sea surface height observations combined with geoid information as well as by ocean models. The altimetry observations are characterized by an irregular sampling and seasonal sea ice coverage complicating reliable DOT estimations. Models display various spatiotemporal resolutions but are limited to their computational and mathematical context and introduced forcing models. In the present paper, ALES+ retracked altimetry ranges and derived along-track DOT heights of ESA's Envisat and water heights of the Finite Element Sea Ice-Ocean Model (FESOM) are compared to investigate similarities and discrepancies. The goal of the present paper is to identify to what extent pattern and variability of the northern Nordic seas derived from measurements and model agree with each other, respectively. The study period covers the years 2003–2009. An assessment analysis regarding seasonal DOT variabilities shows good agreement and confirms the dominant impact of the annual signal in both datasets. A comparison based on estimated regional annual signal components shows 2–3 times stronger amplitudes of the observations but good agreement of the phase. Reducing both datasets by constant offsets and the annual signal reveals small regional residuals and highly correlated DOT time series (Pearson linear correlation coefficient of at least 0.67). The highest correlations can be found in areas that are ice-free and affected by ocean currents. However, differences are visible in sea-ice-covered shelf regions. Furthermore, remaining constant artificial elevations in the observational data can be attributed to an insufficient representation of the used geoid. In general, the comparison results in good agreement between simulated and altimetry-based descriptions of the DOT in the northern Nordic seas.</p

Arctic Ocean Sea Level Record from the Complete Radar Altimetry Era: 1991-2018

In recent years, there has been a large focus on the Arctic due to the rapid changes of the region. Arctic sea level determination is challenging due to the seasonal to permanent sea-ice cover, lack of regional coverage of satellites, satellite instruments ability to measure ice, insufficient geophysical models, residual orbit errors, challenging retracking of satellite altimeter data. We present the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Technical University of Denmark (DTU)/Technischen Universität München (TUM) sea level anomaly (SLA) record based on radar satellite altimetry data in the Arctic Ocean from the European Remote Sensing satellite number 1 (ERS-1) (1991) to CryoSat-2 (2018). We use updated geophysical corrections and a combination of altimeter data: Reprocessing of Altimeter Product for ERS (REAPER) (ERS-1), ALES+ retracker (ERS-2, Envisat), combination of Radar Altimetry Database System (RADS) and DTUs in-house retracker LARS (CryoSat-2). Furthermore, this study focuses on the transition between conventional and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) altimeter data to make a smooth time series regarding the measurement method. We find a sea level rise of 1.54 mm/year from September 1991 to September 2018 with a 95% confidence interval from 1.16 to 1.81 mm/year. ERS-1 data is troublesome and when ignoring this satellite the SLA trend becomes 2.22 mm/year with a 95% confidence interval within 1.67–2.54 mm/year. Evaluating the SLA trends in 5 year intervals show a clear steepening of the SLA trend around 2004. The sea level anomaly record is validated against tide gauges and show good results. Additionally, the time series is split and evaluated in space and time

Wind-induced cross-strait sea level variability in the Strait of Gibraltar from coastal altimetry and in-situ measurements

Coastal altimetry products are available and are being extensively validated. Their accuracy has been assessed in many coastal zones around the world and they are ready for exploitation near the shore. This opens a variety of applications of the sea level data obtained from the specific reprocessing of radar altimeter signals in the coastal strip. In this work, we retracked altimeter waveforms of the European Space Agency satellites: ERS-2 RA and Envisat RA-2 from descending track (#0360) over the eastern side of the Strait of Gibraltar using the Adaptive Leading Edge Sub-waveform (ALES) retracker. We estimated along-track Sea Level Anomaly (AT_SLA) profiles (RA-2) at high posting rate (18 Hz) using improved range and geophysical corrections. Tides were removed with a global model (DTU10) that displays a good performance in the study area: the mean root square sum (RSS) of the main constituents obtained with DTU10 and 11 tide gauge stations was 4.3 cm in agreement with the RSS using a high-resolution local hydrodynamic model (UCA2.5D) (4.2 cm). We also estimated a local mean sea surface by reprocessing ERS-2/Envisat waveforms (track #0360) with ALES.This work was partially funded by the European Union's Interreg V-A España – Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 project: OCASO under grant agreement: GA 0223_OCASO_5_E