Oceanography The Official Magazine of
The Oceanography Society
Volume 22 Issue 03

View Issue TOC
Volume 22, No. 3
Pages 56 - 69

OpenAccess

Data Assembly and Processing For Operational Oceanography: 10 Years of Achievements

By Pierre-Yves Le Traon , Gilles Larnicol , Stéphanie Guinehut, Sylvie Pouliquen, Abderrahim Bentamy, Dean Roemmich , Craig Donlon, Hervé Roquet , Gregg Jacobs , David Griffin , Fabrice Bonjean , Nicolas Hoepffner, and Lars-Anders Breivik  
Jump to
Article Abstract Citation References Copyright & Usage
Article Abstract

Data assembly and processing centers are essential elements of the operational oceanography infrastructure. They provide data and products needed by modeling and data assimilation systems; they also provide products directly usable for applications. This paper discusses the role and functions of the data centers for operational oceanography. It describes some of the main data assembly centers (Argo and in situ data, altimetry, sea surface temperature) developed during the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment. An overview of other data centers (wind and fluxes, ocean color, sea ice) is also given. Much progress has been achieved over the past 10 years to validate, intercalibrate, and merge altimeter data from multiple satellites. Accuracy and timeliness of products have been improved, and new products have been developed. The same is true for sea surface temperature data through the Global High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Pilot Project. A breakthrough in processing, quality control, and assembly for in situ data has also been achieved through the development of the real-time and delayed-mode Argo data system. In situ and remote-sensing data are now systematically and jointly used to calibrate, validate, and monitor over the long term the quality and consistency of the global ocean observing system. Main results are illustrated. There is also a review of the development and use of products that merge in situ and remote-sensing data. Future issues and main prospects are discussed in the conclusion.

Citation

Le Traon, P.-Y., G. Larnicol, S. Guinehut, S. Pouliquen, A. Bentamy, D. Roemmich, C. Donlon, H. Roquet, G. Jacobs, D. Griffin, F. Bonjean, N. Hoepffner, and L.-A. Breivik. 2009. Data assembly and processing for operational oceanography: 10 years of achievements. Oceanography 22(3):56–69, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.66.

References

Bentamy, A., H. Ayina, P. Queffeulou, D. Croize-Fillon, and V. Kerbaol. 2007. Improved near real time surface wind resolution over the Mediterranean Sea. Ocean Science 3(2):259–271.

Blower, J.D., F. Blanc, M. Clancy, P. Cornillon, C. Donlon, P. Hacker, K. Haines, S.C. Hankin, T. Loubrieu, S. Pouliquen, and others. 2009. Serving GODAE data and products to the ocean community. Oceanography 22(3):70–79.

Bonjean, F., and G.S.E. Lagerloef. 2002. Diagnostic model and analysis of the surface currents in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Journal of Physical Oceanography 32:2,938–2,954.

Bowen, M., W.J. Emery, J. Wilkin, P. Tildesley, I. Barton, and R. Knewtson. 2002. Extracting multi-year surface currents from sequential thermal imagery using the Maximum Cross Correlation technique. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 19:1,665–1,676.

Chassignet, E.P., H.E. Hurlburt, E.J. Metzger, O.M. Smedstad, J.A. Cummings, G.R. Halliwell, R. Bleck, R. Baraille, A.J. Wallcraft, C. Lozano, and others. 2009. US GODAE: Global ocean prediction with the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). Oceanography 22(2):64–75.

Clark, C., and the In Situ Observing System Authors, and S. Wilson and the Satellite Observing System Authors. 2009. An overview of global observing systems relevant to GODAE. Oceanography 22(3):22–33.

Dombrowsky, E., L. Bertino, G.B. Brassington, E.P. Chassignet, F. Davidson, H.E. Hurlburt, M. Kamachi, T. Lee, M.J. Martin, S. Mei, and M. Tonani. 2009. GODAE systems in operation. Oceanography 22(3):80–95.

Donlon, C., I.S. Robinson, M. Reynolds, W. Wimmer, G. Fisher, R. Edwards, and T.J. Nightingale. 2008. An infrared sea surface temperature autonomous radiometer (ISAR) for deployment aboard volunteer observing ships (VOS). Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 25:93–113.

Donlon, C.J., K.S. Casey, I.S. Robinson, C.L. Gentemann, R.W. Reynolds, I. Barton, O. Arino, J. Stark, N. Rayner, P. LeBorgne, and others. 2009a. The GODAE High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Pilot Project. Oceanography 22(3):34–45.

Donlon, C.J., K.S Casey, C. Gentemann, P. LeBorgne, I.S. Robinson, R.W. Reynolds, C. Merchant, D. Llewellyn-Jones, P.J. Minnett, J.F. Piolle, and others. 2009b. Successes and challenges for the modern sea surface temperature observing system. Paper presented at the OceanObs 09 meeting. Available online at http://www.oceanobs09.net/blog/?p=227 (accessed May 22, 2009).

Ducet, N., P.-Y. Le Traon, and G. Reverdin. 2000. Global high resolution mapping of ocean circulation from the combination of TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1/2. Journal of Geophysical Research 105(C8):19,477–19,498.

Fox, D.N., W.J. Teague, C.N. Barron, M.R. Carnes, and C.M. Lee. 2002. The modular ocean data assimilation system (MODAS). Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 19:240–252.

Gaillard, F., E. Autret, V. Thierry, P. Galaup, C. Coatanoan, and T. Loubrieu. 2009. Quality control of large Argo data sets. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 26:337–351, doi:10.1175/2008JTECHO552.1.

Gentemann, C., C.J. Donlon, A. Stuart-Menteth, and F.J. Wentz. 2003. Diurnal signals in satellite sea surface temperature measurements. Geophysical Research Letters 30(3):1,140, doi:10.1029/2002GL016291.

Gregg, W.W., and R.H. Woodward. 1998. Improvements in coverage frequency of ocean color: Combining data from SeaWiFS and MODIS. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 36(4):1,350–1,353.

Guinehut, S., C. Coatanoan, A.-L Dhomps, P.-Y. Le Traon, and G. Larnicol. 2009. On the use of satellite altimeter data in Argo quality control. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 26(2):395–402.

Guinehut, S., P.-Y. Le Traon, and G. Larnicol. 2006. What can we learn from global altimetry/hydrography comparisons? Geophysical Research Letters 33, L10604, doi:10.1029/2005GL025551.

Hurlburt, H.E., G.B. Brassington, Y. Drillet, M. Kamachi, M. Benkiran, R. Bourdallé-Badie, E.P. Chassignet, G.A. Jacobs, O. Le Galloudec, J.-M. Lellouche, and others. 2009. High-resolution global and basin-scale ocean analyses and forecasts. Oceanography 22(3):110–127.

IOCCG (International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group). 2007. Ocean Colour Data Merging. W.W. Gregg, ed., with contributions by W. Gregg, J. Aiken, E. Kwiatkowska, S. Maritorena, F. Mélin, H. Murakami, S. Pinnock, and C. Pottier. IOCCG Monograph Series, Report No. 6, 68 pp.

IOCCG. 2008. Why Ocean Colour? The Societal Benefits of Ocean-Colour Technology. T.N. Platt, N. Hoepffner, V. Stuart, and C. Brown, eds, Reports of the International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group, No. 7, IOCCG, Dartmouth, Canada, 141 pp.

Isern-Fontanet, J., B. Chapron, G. Lapeyre, and P. Klein. 2006. Potential use of microwave sea surface temperatures for the estimation of ocean currents. Geophysical Research Letters 33, L24608, doi:10.1029/2006GL027801.

Johnson, E.S., F. Bonjean, G.S.E. Lagerloef, J.T. Gunn, and G.T. Mitchum. 2007. Validation and error analysis of OSCAR sea surface currents. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 24:688–701.

Lapeyre, G., and P. Klein. 2006. Dynamics of the upper oceanic layers in terms of surface quasigeostrophy theory. Journal of Physical Oceanography 36(2):165–176.

Larnicol, G., S. Guinehut, M.H. Rio, M. Drevillon, Y. Faugere, and G. Nicolas. 2006. The global observed ocean products of the French Mercator project. Paper included in Proceedings of 15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposium. Venice, Italy, March 13–18, 2006, European Space Agency/Centre National d’Études Spatiales, ESA Special Publication, SP-614.

Le Traon, P.-Y., and F. Ogor. 1998. ERS-1/2 orbit improvement using TOPEX/Poseidon: The 2 cm challenge. Journal of Geophysical Research 103:8,045–8,057.

Le Traon, P.-Y., F. Nadal, and N. Ducet. 1998. An improved mapping method of multisatellite altimeter data. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 15:522–533.

Le Traon, P.-Y., M. Rienecker, N. Smith, P. Bahurel, M. Bell, H. Hurlburt, and P. Dandin. 2001. Operational oceanography and prediction: A GODAE perspective. Pp. 529-545 in Observing the Oceans in the 21st Century. C.J. Koblinsky and N.R. Smith, eds, GODAE Project Office, Bureau of Meteorology.

Mélin, F., and G. Zibordi. 2007. An optically-based technique for producing merged spectra of water leaving radiances from ocean color remote sensing. Applied Optics 46:3,856–3,869.

Mélin, F., G. Zibordi, and J.-F. Berthon. 2007. Assessment of satellite ocean color products at a coastal site. Remote Sensing of Environment 110:192–215.

Merchant, C., L.A. Horrocks, J.R. Eyre, and A.G. O’Carroll. 2006. Retrievals of sea surface temperature from infrared imagery: Origin and form of systematic errors. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 132(617):1,205–1,223.

Merchant, C.J., M.J. Filipiak, P. Le Borgne, H. Roquet, E. Autret, J.-F. Piollé, and S. Lavender. 2008. Diurnal warm-layer events in the western Mediterranean and European shelf seas. Geophysical Research Letters 35, L04601, doi:10.1029/2007GL033071.

Mitchum, G.T. 2000. An improved calibration of satellite altimetric heights using tide gauge sea levels with adjustment for land motion. Marine Geodesy 23:145–166.

Noyes, E.J., P.J. Minnett, J.J. Remedios, G.K. Corlett, S.A. Good, and D.T. Llewellyn-Jones. 2006. The accuracy of the AATSR sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean. Remote Sensing of the Environment 101:38–51.

O’Carroll, A.G., J.R. Eyre, and R.W. Saunders. 2008. Three-way error analysis between AATSR, AMSR-E, and in situ sea surface temperature observations. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 25:1,197–1,207.

Oke, P.R., M.A. Balmaseda, M. Benkiran, J.A. Cummings, E. Dombrowsky, Y. Fujii, S. Guinehut, G. Larnicol, P.-Y. Le Traon, and M.J. Martin. 2009. Observing system evaluations using GODAE systems. Oceanography 22(3):144–153.

Owens, W.B., and A.P.S. Wong. 2009. An improved calibration method for the drift of the conductivity sensor on autonomous CTD profiling floats by theta-s climatology. Deep-Sea Research I 56(3):450–457.

Pascual, A., C. Boone, G. Larnicol, and P.-Y. Le Traon. 2009. On the quality of real time altimeter gridded fields: Comparison with in situ data. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 26:556–569.

Pascual, A., Y. Faugere, G. Larnicol, and P.-Y. Le Traon. 2006. Improved description of the ocean mesoscale variability by combining four satellite altimeters. Geophysical Research Letters 33(2), L02611.

Pottier, C., V. Garçon, G. Larnicol, J. Sudre, P. Schaeffer, and P.-Y. Le Traon. 2006. Merging SeaWiFS and MODIS/Aqua ocean color data in North and Equatorial Atlantic using weighted averaging and objective analysis. IEEE Transactions Geosciences Remote Sensing 44:3,436–3,451.

Reynolds, R.W., T.M. Smith, C. Liu, D.B. Chelton, K.S. Casey, and M.G. Schlax. 2007. Daily high-resolution blended analyses for sea surface temperature. Journal of Climate 20:5,473–5,496.

Rio, M.-H., P. Schaeffer, J.-M. Lemoine, and F. Hernandez. 2005. Estimation of the ocean mean dynamic topography through the combination of altimetric data, in-situ measurements and GRACE geoid: From global to regional studies. Paper presented at the GOCINA International Workshop, April 13–15, 2005, Luxembourg.

Roemmich, D., and the Argo Steering Team. 2009. Argo: The challenge of continuing 10 years of progress. Oceanography 22(3):46–55.

Smith, D.L., J. Delderfield, D. Drummond, T. Edwards, C.T. Mutlow, P.D. Read, and G.M. Toplis. 2001. Calibration of the AATSR instrument. Advances in Space Research 28:31–39, doi:10.1016/S0273-1177(01)00273-3.

Stark, J.D., C.J. Donlon, M.J. Martin, and M.E. McCulloch. 2007. OSTIA: An operational, high resolution, real time, global sea surface temperature analysis system. Paper presented at the Oceans ‘07 IEEE conference, Marine Challenges: Coastline to Deep Sea, Aberdeen, Scotland, June 18–21, 2007.

Volpe, G., R. Santoleri, V. Vellucci, M. Ribera D’Alcala, S. Marullo, and F. D’Ortenzio. 2007. The colour of the Mediterranean Sea: Global versus regional bio-optical algorithms evaluation and implication for satellite chlorophyll estimates. Remote Sensing of Environment 107:625–638.

Wong, A.P.S., G.C. Johnson, and W.B. Owens. 2003. Delayed-mode calibration of autonomous CTD profiling float salinity data by theta-S climatology. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 20:308–318.

Copyright & Usage

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.