Filling the Gaps with Models



Satellite-derived Sea Surface Temperature (SST) on 22-April 2017 for NSF-PEACH study region, overlaid cruise stations. Photo by Joe Zambon using Google Earth.

Throughout the NSF-PEACH research cruise, OOMG’s Joe Zambon has been providing data to PIs and Chief Scientist Magdalena Andres for cruise planning. Several study sites were pre-determined months in advance, but this data has been instrumental in determining supplementary surveys of the Gulf Stream. In addition, short-duration features such as eddies have been sampled by determining their location while at sea. One significant challenge of this has been to balance data from satellites and models. While satellite data provides a high-resolution (~1 km) daily picture, there are gaps where they cannot see through clouds – a big problem in coastal environments. To fill the gaps, OOMG’s numerical models are employed with lower resolution (~7 km). The two products, working in tandem, allow research scientists to deploy instrumentation and direct transects with more confidence than any one product alone.  Below is a short animation of the PEACH domain with Satellite and CNAPS model-resolved Sea Surface Temperature (SST).

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