TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 altimeter data have successfully been used to study the mesoscale field in the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the seasonal variability of the Sea Level and eddy statistics in this basin. The comparison between the two altimeter performance is very good and underline importance to combine the information of TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 to study the Mediterranean mesoscale eddy field. Sea level anomalies maps every five days were produced using the both data sets by means of sub-optimal interpolation. A comparison between mesoscale features detected by the two altimeters and contemporaneous features observed using Sea Surface Temperature maps definitively proves the direct relation between sea level anomalies and the Mediterranean eddy field. The data collected ERS-SYMPLEX cruise have been used to verify the performance of ERS-1/2 and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeters in the Mediterranean Sea. The ERS-SYMPLEX experiment has been carried out in the channel of Sicily during spring 1996 in order to make a direct comparison between SLA from ERS1/2 and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeters and in situ data. During the cruise CTD and XBT casts have been done in the central and eastern regions of the channel, and particularly densely along selected altimeters' tracks at the same time of the satellite pass. Sea level anomalies have been computed and compared with the dynamic heights and with the main circulation features resulting from SYMPLEX cruise. The results definitively prove the capability of the two altimeters to correctly detect both basin and mesoscale features of the Mediterranean circulation. Collinear analysis along a repeated T/P track has also suggested potential use of SLA in order to detect barotropic component of currents in the channel of Sicily.

Date Published: 30 December 1997
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 3222, Earth Surface Remote Sensing, (30 December 1997); doi: 10.1117/12.298165

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3222:
Earth Surface Remote Sensing
Giovanna Cecchi; Edwin T. Engman; Eugenio Zilioli, Editor(s)