Combined Ocean-Geodetic Analysis of Global and Regional Ocean Mass-, and Freshwater Transport Divergences

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In this project modern satellite data of gravity and altimetry will be used in combination with in situ ocean data, information about surface fluxes of heat, net freshwater and momentum, river-discharge and ocean circulation models to determine ocean mass transports and mass changes from satellite observations of gravity and altimetry, and to interpret their divergences in terms of ocean mass transports and net freshwater fluxes into the ocean, in combination with ocean heat transports and heat storage changes. Our central focus will be the redistribution of mass and freshwater in the ocean on the seasonal and inter annual time scale, its connection to atmospheric and terrestrial water transports and storages, and the oceans role in the global freshwater cycle. The project will have three subprojects, which are highly complementary and interconnected and which range from global scale ocean reanalyses and eddy-resolving modeling, to regional and local verification attempts. Regional and global surface fluxes of freshwater estimated through our approach will be compared with NWP estimates and our estimates of run-off will be compared with results from terrestrial hydrology studies within this SPP 1257. Our estimats will rely on global and regional geoid models and will be used to test their consistency with ocean observations. This work will be a pre-requisit for joint ocean and geoid estimation attempts.