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| Titel |
Small scale currents and ocean wave heights: from today's models to future satellite observations with CFOSAT and SKIM |
| VerfasserIn |
Fabrice Ardhuin, Sarah Gille, Dimitris Menemenlis, Cesar Rocha, Nicolas Rascle, Jonathan Gula, Bertrand Chapron |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250147612
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-11801.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Tidal currents and large oceanic currents, such as the Agulhas, Gulf Stream and Kuroshio, are
known to modify ocean wave properties, causing extreme sea states that are a hazard to
navigation. Recent advances in the understanding and modeling capability of ocean currents
at scales of 10 km or less have revealed the ubiquitous presence of fronts and filaments.
Based on realistic numerical models, we show that these structures can be the main source of
variability in significant wave heights at scales less than 200 km, including important
variations at 10 km. This current-induced variability creates gradients in wave heights that
were previously overlooked and are relevant for extreme wave heights and remote
sensing. The spectrum of significant wave heights is found to be of the order of
70⟨Hs ⟩2∕(g2⟨Tm0,−1⟩2) times the current spectrum, where ⟨Hs ⟩ is the spatially-averaged
significant wave height, ⟨Tm0,−1⟩ is the average energy period, and g is the gravity
acceleration.
This small scale variability is consistent with Jason-3 and SARAL along-track variability.
We will discuss how future satellite mission with wave spectrometers can help observe these
wave-current interactions. CFOSAT is due for launch in 2018, and SKIM is a proposal for
ESA Earth Explorer 9. |
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