SKIM, a Candidate Satellite Mission Exploring Global Ocean Currents and Waves

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Ardhuin, Fabrice, Brandt, Peter, Gaultier, Lucile, Donlon, Craig, Battaglia, Alessandro, Boy, François, Casal, Tânia, Chapron, Bertrand, Collard, Fabrice, Cravatte, Sophie, Delouis, Jean-Marc, de Witte, Erik, Dibarboure, Gerald, Engen, Geir, Johnsen, Harald, Lique, Camille, Lopez-Dekker, Paco, Maes, Christophe, Adrien, Martin, Marié, Louis, Menemenlis, Dimitris, Nouguier, Frederic, Peureux, Charles, Rampal, Pierre, Ressler, Gerhard, Rio, Marie-Hélène, Rommen, Bjorn, Shutler, Jamie, D, Suess, Martin, Tsamados, Michel, Ubelmann, Clément, van Sebille, Erik, van den Oever, Martin, Stammer, Detlef
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), OceanDataLab, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC), University of Southampton, Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling, University College of London London (UCL), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, ISBlue - Interdisciplinary Graduate School for the Blue planet (2017), ANR-17-EURE-0015,ISBlue,Interdisciplinary Graduate School for the Blue planet(2017)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Antarctic; Arctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02406005; https://hal.science/hal-02406005/document; https://hal.science/hal-02406005/file/Ardhuin_etal_FMARS2019b.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00209

International audience The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) satellite mission is designed to explore ocean surface current and waves. This includes tropical currents, notably the poorly known patterns of divergence and their impact on the ocean heat budget, and monitoring of the emerging Arctic up to 82.5 • N. SKIM will also make unprecedented direct measurements of strong currents, from boundary currents to the Antarctic circumpolar current, and their interaction with ocean waves with expected impacts on air-sea fluxes and extreme waves. For the first time, SKIM will directly measure the ocean surface current vector from space. The main instrument on SKIM is a Ka-band conically scanning, multi-beam Doppler radar altimeter/wave scatterometer that includes a state-of-the-art nadir beam comparable to the Poseidon-4 instrument on Sentinel 6. The well proven Doppler pulse-pair technique will give a surface drift velocity representative of the top meter of the ocean, after subtracting a large wave-induced contribution. Horizontal velocity components will be obtained with an accuracy better than 7 cm/s for horizontal wavelengths larger than 80 km and time resolutions larger than 15 days, with a mean revisit time of 4 days for of 99% of the global oceans. This will provide unique and innovative measurements that will further our understanding of the transports in the upper ocean layer, permanently distributing heat, carbon, plankton, and plastics. SKIM will also benefit from co-located measurements of water vapor, rain rate, sea ice concentration, and wind vectors provided by the European operational satellite