Improving the Coastal Mean Dynamic Topography by Geodetic Combination of Tide Gauge and Satellite Altimetry

Improving the Coastal Mean Dynamic Topography by Geodetic Combination of Tide Gauge and Satellite Altimetry

The ocean mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the surface representation of the ocean circulation. The MDT may be determined by the ocean approach, which involves temporal averaging of numerical ocean circulation model information, or by the geodetic approach, wherein the MDT is derived using the ellip...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine geodesy Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 517 - 545
Main Authors: Andersen, Ole Baltazar, Nielsen, Karina, Knudsen, Per, Hughes, Chris W., Bingham, Rory, Fenoglio-Marc, Luciana, Gravelle, Médéric, Kern, Michael, Polo, Sara Padilla
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 02-11-2018
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Coastal dynamics
Coastal environments
Connecting
Continental interfaces, environment
Datum (elevation)
Dynamic topography
Earth
Earth Sciences
Gauges
Geoid
Global navigation satellite system
Height
Mathematical models
Mean dynamic topography
Mean sea level
Ocean circulation
Ocean currents
Ocean models
Ocean, Atmosphere
Oceanography
Oceans
Satellite altimetry
Satellites
Sciences of the Universe
Sea level
Sea surface
Temperature (air-sea)
tide gauge
Tide gauges
Tides
Topography
Topography (geology)
Water circulation
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Summary:The ocean mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the surface representation of the ocean circulation. The MDT may be determined by the ocean approach, which involves temporal averaging of numerical ocean circulation model information, or by the geodetic approach, wherein the MDT is derived using the ellipsoidal height of the mean sea surface (MSS), or mean sea level (MSL) minus the geoid as the geoid. The ellipsoidal height of the MSS might be estimated either by satellite or coastal tide gauges by connecting the tide gauge datum to the Earth-centred reference frame. In this article we present a novel approach to improve the coastal MDT, where the solution is based on both satellite altimetry and tide gauge data using new set of 302 tide gauges with ellipsoidal heights through the SONEL network. The approach was evaluated for the Northeast Atlantic coast where a dense network of GNSS-surveyed tide gauges is available. The typical misfit between tide gauge and satellite or oceanographic MDT was found to be around 9 cm. This misfit was found to be mainly due to small scale geoid errors. Similarly, we found, that a single tide gauge places only weak constraints on the coastal dynamic topography.
ISSN:0149-0419
1521-060X
DOI:10.1080/01490419.2018.1530320