Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere
Over the past decade, several studies based on coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations have shown that the oceanic surface current feedback to the atmosphere (CFB) leads to a slow-down of the mean oceanic circulation and, overall, to the so-called eddy killing effect, i.e., a sink of kinetic energy fro...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/2/302 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832587558738984960 |
|---|---|
| author | Marco Larrañaga Lionel Renault Alexander Wineteer Marcela Contreras Brian K. Arbic Mark A. Bourassa Ernesto Rodriguez |
| author_facet | Marco Larrañaga Lionel Renault Alexander Wineteer Marcela Contreras Brian K. Arbic Mark A. Bourassa Ernesto Rodriguez |
| author_sort | Marco Larrañaga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the past decade, several studies based on coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations have shown that the oceanic surface current feedback to the atmosphere (CFB) leads to a slow-down of the mean oceanic circulation and, overall, to the so-called eddy killing effect, i.e., a sink of kinetic energy from oceanic eddies to the atmosphere that damps the oceanic mesoscale activity by about 30%, with upscaling effects on large-scale currents. Despite significant improvements in the representation of western boundary currents and mesoscale eddies in numerical models, some discrepancies remain when comparing numerical simulations with satellite observations. These discrepancies include a stronger wind and wind stress response to surface currents and a larger air–sea kinetic energy flux from the ocean to the atmosphere in numerical simulations. However, altimetric gridded products are known to largely underestimate mesoscale activity, and the satellite observations operate at different spatial and temporal resolutions and do not simultaneously measure surface currents and wind stress, leading to large uncertainties in air–sea mechanical energy flux estimates. ODYSEA is a new satellite mission project that aims to simultaneously monitor total surface currents and wind stress with a spatial sampling interval of 5 km and 90% daily global coverage. This study evaluates the potential of ODYSEA to measure surface winds, currents, energy fluxes, and ocean–atmosphere coupling coefficients. To this end, we generated synthetic ODYSEA data from a high-resolution coupled ocean–wave–atmosphere simulation of the Gulf Stream using ODYSIM, the Doppler scatterometer simulator for ODYSEA. Our results indicate that ODYSEA would significantly improve the monitoring of eddy kinetic energy, the kinetic energy cascade, and air–sea kinetic energy flux in the Gulf Stream region. Despite the improvement over the current measurements, the estimates of the coupling coefficients between surface currents and wind stress may still have large uncertainties due to the noise inherent in ODYSEA, and also due to measurement capabilities related to wind stress. This study evidences that halving the measurement noise in surface currents would lead to a more accurate estimation of the surface eddy kinetic energy and wind stress coupling coefficients. Since measurement noise in surface currents strongly depends on the square root of the transmit power of the Doppler scatterometer antenna, noise levels can be reduced by increasing the antenna length. However, exploring other alternatives, such as the use of neural networks, could also be a promising approach. Additionally, the combination of wind stress estimation from ODYSEA with other satellite products and numerical simulations could improve the representation of wind stress in gridded products. Future efforts should focus on the assessment of the potential of ODYSEA in quantifying the production of eddy kinetic energy through horizontal energy fluxes and air–sea energy fluxes related to divergent and rotational motions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-37cfc2f38a024d7580796f7e32e6cdcc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj-art-37cfc2f38a024d7580796f7e32e6cdcc2025-01-24T13:48:03ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-01-0117230210.3390/rs17020302Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the AtmosphereMarco Larrañaga0Lionel Renault1Alexander Wineteer2Marcela Contreras3Brian K. Arbic4Mark A. Bourassa5Ernesto Rodriguez6Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USALEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES-CNRS-IRD-UPS, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, FranceJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAInstitut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, INRAE, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, FranceDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USACenter for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAOver the past decade, several studies based on coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations have shown that the oceanic surface current feedback to the atmosphere (CFB) leads to a slow-down of the mean oceanic circulation and, overall, to the so-called eddy killing effect, i.e., a sink of kinetic energy from oceanic eddies to the atmosphere that damps the oceanic mesoscale activity by about 30%, with upscaling effects on large-scale currents. Despite significant improvements in the representation of western boundary currents and mesoscale eddies in numerical models, some discrepancies remain when comparing numerical simulations with satellite observations. These discrepancies include a stronger wind and wind stress response to surface currents and a larger air–sea kinetic energy flux from the ocean to the atmosphere in numerical simulations. However, altimetric gridded products are known to largely underestimate mesoscale activity, and the satellite observations operate at different spatial and temporal resolutions and do not simultaneously measure surface currents and wind stress, leading to large uncertainties in air–sea mechanical energy flux estimates. ODYSEA is a new satellite mission project that aims to simultaneously monitor total surface currents and wind stress with a spatial sampling interval of 5 km and 90% daily global coverage. This study evaluates the potential of ODYSEA to measure surface winds, currents, energy fluxes, and ocean–atmosphere coupling coefficients. To this end, we generated synthetic ODYSEA data from a high-resolution coupled ocean–wave–atmosphere simulation of the Gulf Stream using ODYSIM, the Doppler scatterometer simulator for ODYSEA. Our results indicate that ODYSEA would significantly improve the monitoring of eddy kinetic energy, the kinetic energy cascade, and air–sea kinetic energy flux in the Gulf Stream region. Despite the improvement over the current measurements, the estimates of the coupling coefficients between surface currents and wind stress may still have large uncertainties due to the noise inherent in ODYSEA, and also due to measurement capabilities related to wind stress. This study evidences that halving the measurement noise in surface currents would lead to a more accurate estimation of the surface eddy kinetic energy and wind stress coupling coefficients. Since measurement noise in surface currents strongly depends on the square root of the transmit power of the Doppler scatterometer antenna, noise levels can be reduced by increasing the antenna length. However, exploring other alternatives, such as the use of neural networks, could also be a promising approach. Additionally, the combination of wind stress estimation from ODYSEA with other satellite products and numerical simulations could improve the representation of wind stress in gridded products. Future efforts should focus on the assessment of the potential of ODYSEA in quantifying the production of eddy kinetic energy through horizontal energy fluxes and air–sea energy fluxes related to divergent and rotational motions.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/2/302ODYSEADoppler scatterometersurface currentswind stresseddy kinetic energyhorizontal energy fluxes |
| spellingShingle | Marco Larrañaga Lionel Renault Alexander Wineteer Marcela Contreras Brian K. Arbic Mark A. Bourassa Ernesto Rodriguez Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere Remote Sensing ODYSEA Doppler scatterometer surface currents wind stress eddy kinetic energy horizontal energy fluxes |
| title | Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere |
| title_full | Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere |
| title_short | Assessing the Future ODYSEA Satellite Mission for the Estimation of Ocean Surface Currents, Wind Stress, Energy Fluxes, and the Mechanical Coupling Between the Ocean and the Atmosphere |
| title_sort | assessing the future odysea satellite mission for the estimation of ocean surface currents wind stress energy fluxes and the mechanical coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere |
| topic | ODYSEA Doppler scatterometer surface currents wind stress eddy kinetic energy horizontal energy fluxes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/2/302 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marcolarranaga assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT lionelrenault assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT alexanderwineteer assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT marcelacontreras assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT briankarbic assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT markabourassa assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere AT ernestorodriguez assessingthefutureodyseasatellitemissionfortheestimationofoceansurfacecurrentswindstressenergyfluxesandthemechanicalcouplingbetweentheoceanandtheatmosphere |