Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DYNACLIM (Ocean DYNAmics reconstruction using remotely sensed variables in two CLIMate hotspots)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2019-09-16 do 2022-09-15
Objectives
Ocean currents are critically important to our global climate system, but ocean dynamics are not well understood or characterized, leaving a significant gap in current climate modeling. To address this, DYNACLIM is combining satellite observations of salinity, sea surface temperature, and sea surface height with ocean dynamics models. Researchers will apply their new approach to the Arctic Ocean - a key region in our understanding of the climate crisis as more remote sensing data is available. Improving our understanding in this area will contribute to better European policies to reduce the climatic impact of maritime transport, and add urgency to climate warnings around melting ice in the Arctic.
By transporting heat and energy, ocean currents play a major role in shaping the climate of Earth’s many regions. However, the characterization of ocean dynamics remains one of the key problems in oceanography. This project addresses the reconstruction of ocean currents from satellite observations. Using a semi-analytical quasi-geostrophic model, this proposal aims to exploit the available spatiotemporal sampling capacity of remotely sensed variables such as salinity, sea surface temperature, and sea surface high to reconstruct the ocean's three-dimensional dynamics. This approach will be applied to the Arctic Ocean; a region of relevant importance in order to better understand the consequences of climate change and where enhanced satellite salinity products are recently being produced. Reinforcing knowledge on the Arctic dynamics represents a community priority as they represent key areas that regulate the climate system, that are suffering the fastest rates of change due to global warming. Moreover, improving the circulation understanding in this area would also contribute to European politics to reduce the climatic impact of maritime transport contamination.
Conclusions
The results show that the SQG approach makes it possible to reconstruct three-dimensional dynamics in the Arctic Ocean by using only surface information, such as sea surface height or surface velocities, and information on the stratification of the water column; however, the approach is not able to reconstruct three-dimensional dynamics using only sea surface buoyancy. Accurate reconstructions (correlation coefficients greater than 0.8) are found up to 400 m in the Nordic Seas, up to 200 m in the Barents Seas, and up to 100 m in the Beaufort Sea, taking the geostrophic velocity from the reanalysis system as a reference. Areas that are more stratified, such as the East Siberian Sea, hinder the reconstruction of the upper ocean dynamics from surface information, showing correlation coefficients greater than 0.6 only up to 100 m. Because there is less stratification in the water column during the winter and spring months, better 3D reconstructions are obtained during these seasons.
Ocean currents are critically important to our global climate system, but ocean dynamics are not well understood or characterized, leaving a significant gap in current climate modeling. To address this, DYNACLIM is combining satellite observations of salinity, sea surface temperature, and sea surface height with ocean dynamics models. Researchers will apply their new approach to the Arctic Ocean - a key region in our understanding of the climate crisis as more remote sensing data is available. Improving our understanding in this area will contribute to better European policies to reduce the climatic impact of maritime transport, and add urgency to climate warnings around melting ice in the Arctic.
By transporting heat and energy, ocean currents play a major role in shaping the climate of Earth’s many regions. However, the characterization of ocean dynamics remains one of the key problems in oceanography. This project addresses the reconstruction of ocean currents from satellite observations. Using a semi-analytical quasi-geostrophic model, this proposal aims to exploit the available spatiotemporal sampling capacity of remotely sensed variables such as salinity, sea surface temperature, and sea surface high to reconstruct the ocean's three-dimensional dynamics. This approach will be applied to the Arctic Ocean; a region of relevant importance in order to better understand the consequences of climate change and where enhanced satellite salinity products are recently being produced. Reinforcing knowledge on the Arctic dynamics represents a community priority as they represent key areas that regulate the climate system, that are suffering the fastest rates of change due to global warming. Moreover, improving the circulation understanding in this area would also contribute to European politics to reduce the climatic impact of maritime transport contamination.
Conclusions
The results show that the SQG approach makes it possible to reconstruct three-dimensional dynamics in the Arctic Ocean by using only surface information, such as sea surface height or surface velocities, and information on the stratification of the water column; however, the approach is not able to reconstruct three-dimensional dynamics using only sea surface buoyancy. Accurate reconstructions (correlation coefficients greater than 0.8) are found up to 400 m in the Nordic Seas, up to 200 m in the Barents Seas, and up to 100 m in the Beaufort Sea, taking the geostrophic velocity from the reanalysis system as a reference. Areas that are more stratified, such as the East Siberian Sea, hinder the reconstruction of the upper ocean dynamics from surface information, showing correlation coefficients greater than 0.6 only up to 100 m. Because there is less stratification in the water column during the winter and spring months, better 3D reconstructions are obtained during these seasons.
During the first months (Sep- Nov 2019) of the fellowship I gathered the necessary data to start the project and reviewed the bibliography on quasi-geostrophic theory (SQG). I started a study in the Northern Seas aiming to understand the dynamics of the area and the influence of sea surface salinity information. I learned spectral analysis and applied wavenumber power density spectra (PDS) to the different datasets in order to study the representativeness of satellite SSS products as compared to SST/SSH. The study was presented at an international conference: (CONF. 1) Ocean Sciences Meeting. 16-21 Feb. 2020 in San Diego, CA, USA. I developed a MATLAB code to apply the SQG approach (Mar.-Aug. 2020) to reconstruct subsurface velocities and density fields. I validated my code with an adapted Python code developed in the past by my supervisor (Jul.-Sep. 2020). Thanks to the MC fellowship I was able to finish and publish a paper in a high-impact journal (March 2020) on the correlation between SST and Ocean Color that I started during my PhD, which is related to my work as applies data fusion.
Inside the ICM-CSIC institution, I established close collaboration with experts on remote sensing of the cryosphere. I started a study on the correlation and data fusion between SSS and Ocean Color in the river plumes of the Kara and Laptev Seas. This work is been presented at International Symposium on Marine Sciences in Barcelona from 1-3 July 2020; EO for Polar Science 28-30 Oct. 2020. This study was published in a high-impact journal. After publication, this work has also been presented at Ocean Science Meeting (online). 27 Feb. -4 Mach 2022, USA; Ocean Salinity New York (online). 6-9 June 2022, USA.
I collaborated with the Barcelona Expert Center team on validation studies of newly produced SMOS SSS products (February-July 2020). I co-authored with them three papers. I also collaborated with Southern Ocean experts, leading a study on using in-situ measurements collected by a boat competing in the Vendée Globe race to validate remotely sensed salinity in the Sub-Antarctic Seas. (Jan.-June 2022). This work leads to a publication and two radio interviews. I reconstructed the 3D ocean dynamics in four key areas of the Arctic Ocean (Aug. 2020- Dec. 2021). Different locations, input data, and methodologies of SQG have been tested (Jan- July 2022). These results have been presented in three conferences: CLIVAR Arctic Circ. Seattle; EOF. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. July 2022; World Ocean Circulation Meeting. Frascati, Italy 11-14 October 2022. This work has been published in a high-impact journal.
Outreach activities: I publish the advances of my research through our institution's outreach channels, especially via Twitter: @ICMCSIC, @BECICMRS, BEC blog, and the relevant Interdisciplinary Thematic platforms of CSIC. Informative talks 11/02/2022 International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Arctic ice, the key to understanding climate change. Organizers: 100tifiques.cat and Women in Science (CSIC). Interview in Radio Aragón (12/08/2022), Ágora emission, 'Science and sport come together to improve climate change predictions'. Interview in Catalunya Radio (12/09/2022), Popap emission, 'Science and sport against climate change. During MSCA I always promoted open-access science ensuring the open access of my publications. Moreover, the data products derived from my research are available through the BEC webpage or DigitalCSIC.
Inside the ICM-CSIC institution, I established close collaboration with experts on remote sensing of the cryosphere. I started a study on the correlation and data fusion between SSS and Ocean Color in the river plumes of the Kara and Laptev Seas. This work is been presented at International Symposium on Marine Sciences in Barcelona from 1-3 July 2020; EO for Polar Science 28-30 Oct. 2020. This study was published in a high-impact journal. After publication, this work has also been presented at Ocean Science Meeting (online). 27 Feb. -4 Mach 2022, USA; Ocean Salinity New York (online). 6-9 June 2022, USA.
I collaborated with the Barcelona Expert Center team on validation studies of newly produced SMOS SSS products (February-July 2020). I co-authored with them three papers. I also collaborated with Southern Ocean experts, leading a study on using in-situ measurements collected by a boat competing in the Vendée Globe race to validate remotely sensed salinity in the Sub-Antarctic Seas. (Jan.-June 2022). This work leads to a publication and two radio interviews. I reconstructed the 3D ocean dynamics in four key areas of the Arctic Ocean (Aug. 2020- Dec. 2021). Different locations, input data, and methodologies of SQG have been tested (Jan- July 2022). These results have been presented in three conferences: CLIVAR Arctic Circ. Seattle; EOF. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. July 2022; World Ocean Circulation Meeting. Frascati, Italy 11-14 October 2022. This work has been published in a high-impact journal.
Outreach activities: I publish the advances of my research through our institution's outreach channels, especially via Twitter: @ICMCSIC, @BECICMRS, BEC blog, and the relevant Interdisciplinary Thematic platforms of CSIC. Informative talks 11/02/2022 International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Arctic ice, the key to understanding climate change. Organizers: 100tifiques.cat and Women in Science (CSIC). Interview in Radio Aragón (12/08/2022), Ágora emission, 'Science and sport come together to improve climate change predictions'. Interview in Catalunya Radio (12/09/2022), Popap emission, 'Science and sport against climate change. During MSCA I always promoted open-access science ensuring the open access of my publications. Moreover, the data products derived from my research are available through the BEC webpage or DigitalCSIC.
The project goes beyond the state of the art, because it is the first time that a surface quasi-geostrophic approach is applied in the Arctic Ocean, and would allow a real 3D ocean dynamics reconstruction using only satellite data. The findings of this study demonstrate that the 3D dynamics of the upper ocean in polar regions can be retrieved with available remotely sensed altimetry information using SQG approaches, and it has the potential to be applied in the near future to remotely sensed SWOT and CRISTAL higher-resolution measurements of sea levels, even in the presence of sea ice, and Seastar and WaCM direct measurements of ocean surface currents. By maximizing the use of ESA missions, our scientific proposal aims to advance Earth System Science addressing the global scientific challenge of improving the characterization of mesoscale circulation and enhancing marine environment forecast.