Mesoscale ocean structure reconstruction through data collection and analysis in the framework of the FaSt-SWOT project

Abstract

[eng] The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission was launched in December 2022 by the NASA/CNES and is considered a major breakthrough in ocean observation from space. It is expected to measure the elevation of the Earth’s surface water with a spatial resolution one order of magnitude higher than present altimeters. This master’s thesis has been developed within the framework of the FaSt-SWOT project, the Spanish contribution to the validation of SWOT. The main goal of FaSt-SWOT is to integrate SWOT measurements with observations from high-resolution multi-platform experiments and advanced data-assimilative models to characterize fine-scale (10-100 km) dynamics and quantify the associated horizontal and vertical transports. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the FaSt-SWOT experiments in different ways. First, a tool was developed to design sampling strategies for in-situ oceanographic experiments using rosette ConductivityTemperature-Depth (CTD) or undertow CTD. Then, satellite observations were analyzed to define the structures of interest to be sampled during the FaSt-SWOT experiments. Once the experiments were finished, with my participation on board in the first one and from land for the second, the analysis of the observations began. Although different instruments were used in the experiments, this thesis focuses on the analysis and processing of temperature and salinity data collected from a Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP). Then, the processed temperature field was reconstructed through optimal interpolation.