Quantifying errors on SWOT sea surface heights in the Southern Ocean ...

• Main Authors: caggiano, jessica, Chambers, Don
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: CNES 2023
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24400/527896/a03-2023.3689; https://ostst.aviso.altimetry.fr/programs/abstracts-details.html?tx_ausyclsseminar_pi2[objAbstracte]=3689&cHash=X

The SWOT error budget for sea surface height measurements are predicated on a significant wave height (SWH) of 2 meters. Within this range, the surface wave error on the swath falls below the noise floor, and is assumed it can be ignored. However, there are many locations within the oceans where this SWH is an under-estimation. Specifically, within the Southern Ocean the SWH regularly varies between 4-8 meters, and often reaches 12 meters. The resulting regional under-estimation of modeled SWH may contaminate the signal returned by KaRIN especially after onboard processing. Ocean general circulation models (OGCM) often do not represent sea surface heights for wavelengths < 20 km, which is potentially observable by SWOT. To remedy this, we create our own sea surfaces which include sub-mesoscale energy and wave motions. We create our own sea surfaces using spectral techniques, creating two different surfaces that will then be added together. For generation of the sub-mesoscale surface we utilize a spectral ...