Publications
Following publications have been announced. Fur further information please contact the marked authors.
Boss, E., Brewin, R.J.W., Bulgarelli, B., Chauhan, P., Doerffer, R., Dutkiewicz, S., Ford, D., Franz, B.A., Frouin, R., Hieronymi, M., Hu, C., Hunt, S.E., Jackson, T., Jay, S., Jolivet, D., Jones, E., Karaköylü, E.M., Kobayashi, H., Kwiatkowska, E., Lamquin, N., Lavender, S., Maritorena, S., Martinez-Vicente, V., McKinna, L.I.W., Mélin, F., Neukermans, G., Racault, M.-F., Sathyendranath, S., Solanki, H.U., Volpe, G., Wang, M., Werdell, J., & Zheng, G. (2019): Uncertainties in Ocean Colour Remote Sensing. IOCCG Report Series, No. 18, International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group, Dartmouth, Canada, https://ioccg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ioccg-report-18-uncertainties-rr.pdf
Abstract:
This report summarizes the state of our knowledge on uncertainties related to ocean colour (OC) products, and identifies ideas and recommendations to achieve significant progress on how uncertainties are quantified and distributed. For a proper use of OC data, it is necessary to be aware of the potential problems and limitations associated with OC remote sensing products, and to identify the sources contributing to their uncertainties, from top-of-atmosphere (TOA) data, to gridded products. This report makes a comprehensive review of these factors. Even though very few OC products are distributed with uncertainty estimates, several approaches have been proposed in recent years to quantify OC product uncertainties. These are reviewed in the report, along with general recommendations for promoting a better treatment of uncertainties, as well as reducing the uncertainties associated with ocean colour products.
Piracha, A., Sabia, R., Klockmann, M., Castaldo, L. & Fernández, D. (2019): Satellite-Driven Estimates of Water Mass Formation and Their Spatio-Temporal Evolution. Front. Mar. Sci., 6:589, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00589
Abstract:
We derive water mass transformation and formation rates using satellite-derived datasets of salinity, temperature and fluxes of heat and freshwater over the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Southern Ocean. The formation rates are expressed in three coordinate systems: (1) density, (2) temperature-salinity and (3) latitude-longitude. In the North Atlantic and North Pacific, peak formation occurs south of the western boundary current extensions during the winter months of the study period. In the Southern Ocean, wintertime peak formation occurs just north of the sub-Antarctic Front. The satellite-derived water mass properties and formation areas agree well with previous estimates from literature. The location of peak Mode Water formation varies slightly with time in all coordinate systems. We assess seasonal and inter-annual variability in all three basins from 2012 to 2014. We assess the impact of satellite uncertainties on final estimates of formation rates and areas with Monte-Carlo simulations. The simulations provide insights on the associated uncertainty of formation estimates. They also provide information on the geographic spread of the water mass formation area subject to the satellite errors. We find that the total uncertainty is dominated by the uncertainty in the sea surface salinity dataset. This stresses the need for frequent and increasingly accurate sea surface salinity data for reliable estimates of water mass formation rates and areas. Our study highlights the feasibility of providing satellite-based estimates of water mass formation rates and areas. The good spatio-temporal coverage of satellite data further adds to the utility of the approach.
