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Acoustic Tomography and Ocean Data Assimilation: Past Results and Future Prospects

 

Dimitris Menemenlis

(Ocean Science Research Element, Jet PropulsionLaboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 300-323, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Califomia 91109-8099, USA)

e-mail: dimitri@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov

 

ABSTRACT

 

In two recent demonstration studies, data from basin-scale acoustic tomography experiments, Thetis-II in the Western Mediterranean and ATOC in the North Pacific, have been combined with TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeter data and with a General Circulation Model. Results from these two studies will be reviewed with emphasis on the specific contributions of the acoustic data.

A collaborative effort between three U.S, institutions, SCRIPPS, MIT, and JPL, is underway to produce a next-generation global-ocean data assimilation system. This system will provide a framework for assimilating data from past and future basin-scale acoustic tomography experiments as well as improved boundary conditions for higher resolution regional studies.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Ocean circulation plays a fundamental role in the earth's climate and biosphere because it stores and transports large quantities of heat, fresh water, carbon, nutrients, and other tracer properties. Therefore, to understand the development of climate and of biological cycles requires a detailed knowledge of ocean circulation and its transport properties. Of more immediate practical importance is the belief that a key to predicting certain components of climate on seasonal to inter-annual time scales, and perhaps even longer, lies in recognizing simple patterns or regimes of ocean-atmosphere interaction. Several efforts to accurately depict ocean circulation through a combination of observations and modeling are under way. Some systems, for example those of the US NAVY and of the National Center for Environmental Predictions are already operational. Next generation systems, for example, project MERCATOR in Europe, and equivalent efforts in the US and Australia are under way. This paper focuses on the role that ocean acoustic tomography can play in such systems.

 

 

 

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