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2005 Images of the Month

Dec. 2005: Atmosphere puts pressure on the ocean: Ocean react roughly as a huge inverted barometer, coming up when atmospheric pressure is low (air weighting less over the surface), and down when pressure rise. To take these effects into account (they can reach 20 cm over the ocean level), the ocean response has to be modelized.
Nov. 2005: Forecasting at oceans' scale: On October 14, 2005, the first Mercator global 1/4° ocean forecasting bulletin was published
Oct. 2005: Cryosat, an altimeter over ice: Cryosat will be launch on October 8, 2005 to measure sea ice topography
Sep. 2005: Estimating Sea Surface Salinity: Sea surface salinity measurements are not yet done by satellite, and thus not global. Using models assimilating altimetry is a way to circumvent this.
Aug. 2005: Satellites shed light on the Kon Tiki story: The Kon Tiki crossed the Pacific in 1974 from South America to Polynesia. Its path is now seen under the light of altimetry-derived currents.
Jul. 2005: Several altimetry satellites for ocean forecasts: Forecast quality, in resolution as well as in accuracy, is improved by assimilating data from several altimetry satellites at the same time.
Jun. 2005 : Cloudy skies: Ocean altimeters are designed for sea surface height measurements. However the possibilities arise of looking at other things; for example, atmospheric liquid water content
May 2005: Warm and cold eddies part ways: eddies tend to go toward the equator when they are anticyclonics (warm eddies), and toward the pole when they are cyclonic (cold eddies)
Apr. 2005: Series of hurricanes: Sea state forecast are using altimetry. During hurricanes, they are a test for the models -- and an important information for seafarers.
Mar. 2005: Floats everywhere: Argo floats provide high quality data complementary to satellite altimetric height. Comparisons are then possible.
Feb. 2005: Brazil-Malvinas confluence: The region of Confluence of the Brazil and Malvinas Currents is a very energetic complex region. Satellites provide valuable information in this area which has few in situ time series observations.
Jan. 2005: Current heat: Much of the heat transported poleward by the oceans is carried in the "western boundary current". Year-to-year variations are observed in their extend, that can be correlated with changes in upper ocean heat content.