Monitoring the Kuroshio Extension with Dynamically Constrained Synthesis of the Acoustic Tomography, Satellite Altimeter and in situ Dataстатья
Информация о цитировании статьи получена из
Web of Science,
Scopus
Статья опубликована в журнале из списка Web of Science и/или Scopus
Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 24 октября 2016 г.
Аннотация:A finite-difference quasigeostrophic (QG) model of an open ocean region has been
employed to produce a dynamically constrained synthesis of acoustic tomography
and satellite altimetry data with in situ observations. The assimilation algorithm is
based upon the 4D variational data interpolation scheme controlled by the model’s
initial and boundary conditions. The data sets analyzed include direct and differen-
tial travel times measured at the array of five acoustic transceivers deployed by
JAMSTEC in the region of the Kuroshio Extension in 1997, Topex/Poseidon altimetry,
CTD soundings, and ADCP velocity profiles. The region monitored is located within
the area 27.5°–36.5°N, 143 °–155°E. The results of assimilation show that mesoscale
variability can be effectively reconstructed by five transceivers measuring direct and
reciprocal travel times supported by relatively sparse in situ measurements. The mis-
fits between model and data lie within the observational error bars for all the data
types used in assimilation. We have compared the results of assimilation with the
statistical inversion of travel time data and analyzed energy balances of the optimized
model solution. Energy exchange between the depth-averaged and shear components
of the observed currents reveals a weak decay of the barotropic mode at the rate of
0.2 ± 0.7·10–5 cm 2/s3 due to topographic interaction. Mean currents in the region are
unstable with an estimate of the available potential energy flux from the mean cur-
rent to the eddies of 4.7 ± 2.3·10–5 cm2/s3. Kinetic energy transition has the same sign
and is estimated as 2.8 ± 2.5·10–5 cm2/s3 . Potential enstrophy is transferred to the
mesoscale at a rate of 5.5 ± 2.7·10–18 s–3. These figures provide observational evidence
of the properties of free geostrophic turbulence which were predicted by theory and
observed in numerical experiments.