New high-resolution observations of ocean surface current and winds from innovative airborne and satellite measurements

海洋颜色的高分辨率卫星图像显示了10公里以下尺度的多种海洋特征。小漩涡、漩涡和细丝弥漫在全球海洋中，但在沿海海域和近海冰层中，在洋流急流、中尺度涡旋附近尤其频繁。最近的研究表明，这些小规模过程通过调节大气、海洋、陆地和冰冻圈之间的相互作用，从而在全球气候系统中发挥关键作用--影响地表和海洋内部和水平输送路径之间的热量、气体、淡水和营养物质的垂直交换。然而，今天对这些过程的了解主要来自模型，几乎没有可用于验证的观测数据。在现场测量小尺度是极具挑战性的、昂贵的和罕见的。该项目研究了创新的OSCAR机载系统的一种新型海洋观测，该系统以1公里或更精细的分辨率拍摄海流和风场的图像。该项目分析了最近在法国和荷兰进行的两次空中战役的数据，并与高分辨率模型、现场传感器和卫星进行了比较。该项目将展示奥斯卡数据在理解和模拟小规模海洋动力学方面的附加值，并加强地球探索者11号海星任务候选者的科学动机(Gommenginger等人，2019年)。

High-resolution satellite images of ocean colour reveal a multitude of oceanic features at scales below 10km. Small eddies, whirls and filaments permeate the global ocean but are particularly frequent near current jets, mesoscale eddies, in coastal seas and near sea ice. Recent research show that these small-scale processes play a critical role in the global climate system by modulating interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, land and cryosphere - impacting vertical exchanges of heat, gases, freshwater and nutrients between the surface and the ocean interior and horizontal transport pathways. However, today's knowledge of these processes stems mainly from models, with little observational data available for validation. Measuring small scales in situ is extremely challenging, expensive and rare. This project investigates a new type of ocean observations from the innovative OSCAR airborne system that images ocean current and wind fields at 1km resolution or finer. The project analyses data from two recent airborne campaigns in France and the Netherlands, comparing with high-resolution models, in situ sensors and satellites. The project will demonstrate the added-value of OSCAR data to understand and model small-scale ocean dynamics, and strengthen the scientific motivation of the Earth Explorer 11 SEASTAR mission candidate (Gommenginger et al., 2019).