TY - JOUR
T1 - SEASTAR: A Mission to Study Ocean Submesoscale Dynamics and Small-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Processes in Coastal, Shelf and Polar Seas
AU - Gommenginger, Christine
AU - Chapron, Bertrand
AU - Hogg, Andy
AU - Buckingham, Christian
AU - Fox-Kemper, Baylor
AU - Eriksson, Leif
AU - Soulat, Francois
AU - Ubelmann, Clément
AU - Ocampo-Torres, Francisco
AU - Nardelli, Bruno Buongiorno
AU - Griffin, David
AU - Lopez-Dekker, Paco
AU - Knudsen, Per
AU - Andersen, Ole
AU - Stenseng, Lars
AU - Stapleton, Neil
AU - Perrie, William
AU - Violante-Carvalho, Nelson
AU - Schulz-Stellenfleth, Johannes
AU - Woolf, David
AU - Isern-Fontanet, Jordi
AU - Ardhuin, Fabrice
AU - Klein, Patrice
AU - Mouche, Alexis
AU - Pascual, Ananda
AU - Capet, Xavier
AU - Hauser, Daniele
AU - Stoffelen, Ad
AU - Morrow, Rosemary
AU - Aouf, Lotfi
AU - Breivik, Øyvind
AU - Fu, Lee-Lueng
AU - Johannessen, Johnny A.
AU - Aksenov, Yevgeny
AU - Bricheno, Lucy
AU - Hirschi, Joel
AU - Martin, Adrien C. H.
AU - Martin, Adrian P.
AU - Nurser, George
AU - Polton, Jeff
AU - Wolf, Judith
AU - Johnsen, Harald
AU - Soloviev, Alexander
AU - Jacobs, Gregg A.
AU - Collard, Fabrice
AU - Groom, Steve
AU - Kudryavtsev, Vladimir
AU - Wilkin, John
AU - Navarro, Victor
AU - Babanin, Alex
AU - Martin, Matthew
AU - Siddorn, John
AU - Saulter, Andrew
AU - Rippeth, Tom
AU - Emery, Bill
AU - Maximenko, Nikolai
AU - Romeiser, Roland
AU - Graber, Hans
AU - Azcarate, Aida Alvera
AU - Hughes, Chris W.
AU - Vandemark, Doug
AU - Silva, Jose da
AU - Leeuwen, Peter Jan Van
AU - Naveira-Garabato, Alberto
AU - Gemmrich, Johannes
AU - Mahadevan, Amala
AU - Marquez, Jose
AU - Munro, Yvonne
AU - Doody, Sam
AU - Burbidge, Geoff
N1 - This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - High-resolution satellite images of ocean color and sea surface temperature reveal an abundance of ocean fronts, vortices and filaments at scales below 10 km but measurements of ocean surface dynamics at these scales are rare. There is increasing recognition of the role played by small scale ocean processes in ocean-atmosphere coupling, upper-ocean mixing and ocean vertical transports, with advanced numerical models and in situ observations highlighting fundamental changes in dynamics when scales reach 1 km. Numerous scientific publications highlight the global impact of small oceanic scales on marine ecosystems, operational forecasts and long-term climate projections through strong ageostrophic circulations, large vertical ocean velocities and mixed layer re-stratification. Small-scale processes particularly dominate in coastal, shelf and polar seas where they mediate important exchanges between land, ocean, atmosphere and the cryosphere e.g. freshwater, pollutants. As numerical models continue to evolve towards finer spatial resolution and increasingly complex coupled atmosphere-wave-ice-ocean systems, modern observing capability lags behind, unable to deliver the high-resolution synoptic measurements of total currents, wind vectors and waves needed to advance understanding, develop better parameterizations and improve model validations, forecasts and projections. SEASTAR is a satellite mission concept that proposes to directly address this critical observational gap with synoptic two-dimensional imaging of total ocean surface current vectors and wind vectors at 1 km resolution and coincident directional wave spectra. Based on major recent advances in squinted along-track Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry, SEASTAR is an innovative, mature concept with unique demonstrated capabilities, seeking to proceed towards spaceborne implementation within Europe and beyond.
AB - High-resolution satellite images of ocean color and sea surface temperature reveal an abundance of ocean fronts, vortices and filaments at scales below 10 km but measurements of ocean surface dynamics at these scales are rare. There is increasing recognition of the role played by small scale ocean processes in ocean-atmosphere coupling, upper-ocean mixing and ocean vertical transports, with advanced numerical models and in situ observations highlighting fundamental changes in dynamics when scales reach 1 km. Numerous scientific publications highlight the global impact of small oceanic scales on marine ecosystems, operational forecasts and long-term climate projections through strong ageostrophic circulations, large vertical ocean velocities and mixed layer re-stratification. Small-scale processes particularly dominate in coastal, shelf and polar seas where they mediate important exchanges between land, ocean, atmosphere and the cryosphere e.g. freshwater, pollutants. As numerical models continue to evolve towards finer spatial resolution and increasingly complex coupled atmosphere-wave-ice-ocean systems, modern observing capability lags behind, unable to deliver the high-resolution synoptic measurements of total currents, wind vectors and waves needed to advance understanding, develop better parameterizations and improve model validations, forecasts and projections. SEASTAR is a satellite mission concept that proposes to directly address this critical observational gap with synoptic two-dimensional imaging of total ocean surface current vectors and wind vectors at 1 km resolution and coincident directional wave spectra. Based on major recent advances in squinted along-track Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry, SEASTAR is an innovative, mature concept with unique demonstrated capabilities, seeking to proceed towards spaceborne implementation within Europe and beyond.
KW - Satellite
KW - Air sea interactions
KW - Upper ocean dynamics
KW - Submesoscale
KW - Coastal
KW - Marginal ice zone
KW - Radar
KW - Along-track interferometry
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00457
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00457
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
M1 - 457
ER -