Evaluation of altimetry-derived surface current products using Lagrangian drifter trajectories in the eastern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Lagrangian particle trajectory models based on several altimetry-derived surface current products are used to hindcast the drifter trajectories observed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico during May to August 2010 (the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident). The performances of the trajectory models are gauged in terms of Lagrangian separation distances (d) and a nondimensional skill score (s), respectively. A series of numerical experiments show that these altimetry-based trajectory models have about the same performance, with a certain improvement by adding surface wind Ekman components, especially over the shelf region. However, their hindcast skills are slightly better than those of the data assimilative numerical model output. After 3 days' simulation the altimetry-based trajectory models have mean d values of 75-83 and 34-42 km (s values of 0.49-0.51 and 0.35-0.43) in the Gulf of Mexico deep water area and on the West Florida Continental Shelf, respectively. These satellite altimetry data products are useful for providing essential information on ocean surface currents of use in water property transports, offshore oil and gas operations, hazardous spill mitigation, search and rescue, etc.

A Dynamic Remote Sensing Data-Driven Approach for Oil Spill Simulation in the Sea

“…However, a lack of sufficient field data at the time of the oil spill event hampered the efforts to validate the oil spill modeling. In the future, it would be good to deploy some surface drifters and validate the modeled trajectory with observations, similar to those in Liu and Weisberg (2011) [47] and [48].…”

“…Furthermore, due to the scarcity of in situ data, a sensitivity analysis or a skill score could not be performed. As a consequence, some future work, such as more extensive model validations [47,48] and multiple model ensembles [2,14], should be done.…”

The Crossover Time as an Evaluation of Ocean Models Against Persistence

“…An example of a reasonable choice of M is the commonly used Lagrangian separation distance (Barron et al, 2007;Berta et al, 2015;Castellari et al, 2001;Liu et al, 2014;Phillipson & Toumi, 2017;Rixen & Ferreira-Coelho, 2007;Muscarella et al, 2015), that is, the separation distance between simulated trajectories (computed via an advection scheme) and observed drifters (km):…”

The Customized Automatic Processing Framework for HY-2A Satellite Marine Advanced Products

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] As the other microwave sensor, the scatterometer mounted on HY-2A is used to provide observations of vector wind at the sea surface. With a rotating dish antenna that can generate a pair of conically scanned pencil beams at two incidence angles, it takes multiple looks at the same sea surface area by transmitting pulses and receiving the returns either from different directions or at different polarizations.…”

“…By calculating the time difference between the transmitted and received signals, the distance between the satellite and the sea surface can be measured. With the precise orbit determination by the laser ranging, the Global Positioning System and the geoid, these observations can determine the changes in sea surface height to an accuracy on the order of a few centimeters, and the altimetry data can provide critical information on ocean circulation and dynamics [11]. In addition, the shape of the return signals yields the significant wave height and the magnitude yields the scalar wind speed [12].…”