Decomposition of Submesoscale Ocean Wave and Current Derived from UAV-Based Observation

Abstract

The consecutive submesoscale sea surface processes observed by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used to decompose into spatial waves and current features. For the image decomposition, the Fast and Adaptive Multidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (FA-MEMD) method was employed to disintegrate multicomponent signals identified in sea surface optical images into modulated signals characterized by their amplitudes and frequencies. These signals, referred to as Bidimensional Intrinsic Mode Functions (BIMFs), represent the inherent two-dimensional oscillatory patterns within sea surface optical data. The BIMFs, separated into seven modes and a residual component, were subsequently reconstructed based on the physical frequencies. A two-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform (2D FFT) for each high-frequency mode was used for surface wave analysis to illustrate the wave characteristics. Wavenumbers (Kx, Ky) ranging between 0.01–0.1 radm−1 and wave directions predominantly in the northeastward direction were identified from the spectral peak ranges. The Optical Flow (OF) algorithm was applied to the remaining consecutive low-frequency modes as the current signal under 0.1 Hz for surface current analysis and to estimate a current field with a 1 m spatial resolution. The accuracy of currents in the overall region was validated with in situ drifter measurements, showing an R-squared (R2) value of 0.80 and an average root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.03 ms−1. This study proposes a novel framework for analyzing individual sea surface dynamical processes acquired from high-resolution UAV imagery using a multidimensional signal decomposition method specialized in nonlinear and nonstationary data analysis.