SEASTAR: A Mission to Study Ocean Submesoscale Dynamics and Small-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Processes in Coastal, Shelf and Polar Seas

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

VL - 6

JO - Frontiers in Marine Science

JF - Frontiers in Marine Science

SN - 2296-7745

M1 - 457

ER -