Lionel Gourdeau

An extended Kalman filter to assimilate satellite altimeter data into a nonlinear numerical model of the tropical Pacific Ocean: Method and validation

A new implementation of the extended Kalman filter scheme is developed for the purpose of assimilating observations into a high-resolution nonlinear numerical model of the tropical Pacific Ocean. It is characterized by two successive stages: (1) approximation of the error covariance matrix by a singular low-rank matrix which leads to making corrections only in those directions for which the error is not naturally attenuated by the system (in this respect it is quite similar to the approach adopted by Cane et al. [1996]), and (2) modification of these directions over time according to the model dynamics, thus reflecting the evolutive nature of the filter. The filter is initialized by a method based on the empirical orthogonal functions obtained from free runs of the model. The reduction of the error covariance matrix avoids the overwhelming burden of computing the temporal evolution of the prediction error with all the degrees of freedom of the full state vector. This assimilation scheme is implemented in the Gent and Cane [1989] primitive equation reduced gravity model. This model has the advantage of using a σ coordinate in the vertical which allows a geographical refinement of the vertical resolution for thermocline gradients. It is forced by the Florida State University database winds, and the Chen et al. [1994] hybrid scheme parameterization is assumed for the mixed layer. The domain of application is the tropical Pacific Ocean basin between 120°E and 80°W longitude and 30°S and 30°N latitude. The resolution is finest at the equator and steadily increases away from the equator. In a first application, validation twin experiments are conducted in which observations are assumed to be synthetic altimeter data sampled according to the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission features. The method is shown to be efficient under various conditions and, in particular, to be capable of transferring information in the vertical from the surface-only altimeter data to the deepest ocean layers and therefore of adequately constraining the thermal and the velocity profiles within the 300 or 400 m upper ocean. In a second application, real TOPEX/POSEIDON data are used and the results evaluated against independent in situ data, namely, Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA)/TAO mooring observations. Improvements in the model behavior are clear in terms of the time variability of the tropical ocean. It therefore seems that the reduced state Kalman filter with empirical orthogonal function (EOF) initialization can be applied with success to such a primitive equation model of the Pacific for the assimilation of altimeter data. However, at this stage the evolutivity of the filter seems to have a limited impact on the performances, which was not the case for tests in the strongly nonlinear midlatitudes [Pham et al., 1998a].

The Annual Cycle of Circulation of the Southwest Subtropical Pacific, Analyzed in an Ocean GCM*

Abstract An ocean GCM, interpreted in light of linear models and sparse observations, is used to diagnose the dynamics of the annual cycle of circulation in the western boundary current system of the southwest Pacific Ocean. The simple structure of annual wind stress curl over the South Pacific produces a large region of uniformly phased, stationary thermocline depth anomalies such that the western subtropical gyre spins up and down during the year, directing flow anomalies alternately toward and away from the boundary at its northern end, near 10°S. The response of the western boundary currents is to redistribute these anomalies northward toward the equator and southward to the subtropical gyre, a redistribution that is determined principally by linear Rossby processes, not boundary dynamics. When the subtropical gyre and South Equatorial Current (SEC) are strong (in the second half of the year), the result is both increased equatorward transport of the New Guinea Coastal Current and poleward transport a...

The Southwest Pacific Ocean circulation and climate experiment (SPICE)

The Southwest Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate Experiment (SPICE) is an international research program under the auspices of CLIVAR. The key objectives are to understand the Southwest Pacific Ocean circulation and the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) dynamics, as well as their influence on regional and basin-scale climate patterns. South Pacific thermocline waters are transported in the westward flowing South Equatorial Current (SEC) toward Australia and Papua-New Guinea. On its way, the SEC encounters the numerous islands and straits of the Southwest Pacific and forms boundary currents and jets that eventually redistribute water to the equator and high latitudes. The transit in the Coral, Solomon, and Tasman Seas is of great importance to the climate system because changes in either the temperature or the amount of water arriving at the equator have the capability to modulate the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, while the southward transports influence the climate and biodiversity in the Tasman Sea. After 7 years of substantial in situ oceanic observational and modeling efforts, our understanding of the region has much improved. We have a refined description of the SPCZ behavior, boundary currents, pathways, and water mass transformation, including the previously undocumented Solomon Sea. The transports are large and vary substantially in a counter-intuitive way, with asymmetries and gating effects that depend on time scales. This paper provides a review of recent advancements and discusses our current knowledge gaps and important emerging research directions.

Zonal Jets Entering the Coral Sea

Abstract The South Equatorial Current (SEC) entering the Coral Sea through the gap between New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands was observed by an autonomous underwater vehicle (Spray glider) and an overlapping oceanographic cruise during July–October 2005. The measurements of temperature, salinity, and absolute velocity included high-horizontal-resolution profiles to 600-m depth by the glider, and sparser, 2000-m-deep profiles from the cruise. These observations confirm the splitting of the SEC into a North Vanuatu Jet (NVJ) and North Caledonian Jet (NCJ), with transport above 600 m of about 20 and 12 Sv, respectively. While the 300-km-wide NVJ is associated with the slope of the main thermocline and is thus found primarily above 300 m, the NCJ is a narrow jet about 100 km wide just at the edge of the New Caledonian reef. It extends to at least a 1500-m depth with very little shear above 600 m and has speeds of more than 20 cm s−1 to at least 1000 m. An Argo float launched east of New Caledonia with a p...

Barotropic Zonal Jets Induced by Islands in the Southwest Pacific

The oceanic circulation entering the tropical southwest Pacific (SWP) is dominated by the broad westward flow of the South Equatorial Current (SEC), which is forced by the trade winds. It has been argued that the numerous islands of the SWP are able to restructure the SEC into a series of deep and narrow zonal jets, which control important pathways connecting equatorial and extraequatorial signals. The primary objective of this paper is to improve the understanding of the structure and dynamics of SWP zonal jets, giving special attention to topographic effects. This study is based on the use of a high-resolution regional oceanic model, whose solution is compared with observations, as well as with solutions from global models and the Sverdrup relation. The model used here indicates that the regional topography drives a general equatorward shift of the SEC, which is beneficial to the North Fiji, North Vanuatu, and North Caledonian jets. A depth-integrated vorticity budget shows that this topographic effect is considerably attenuated by baroclinicity and advection processes, but not to the point of total compensation as often admitted for the interior ocean. The effect of nonlinear advection is to allow flow rectification of the jets fluctuations, taking the form of zonally elongated dipole circulations in the leeward side of the islands.

Thermocline Circulation in the Solomon Sea: A Modeling Study

Abstract In the southwest Pacific, thermocline waters connecting the tropics to the equator via western boundary currents (WBCs) transit through the Solomon Sea. Despite its importance in feeding the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) and its related potential influence on the low-frequency modulation of ENSO, the circulation inside the Solomon Sea is poorly documented. A model has been implemented to analyze the mean and the seasonal variability of the Solomon Sea thermocline circulation. The circulation involves an inflow from the open southern Solomon Sea, which is distributed via WBCs between the three north exiting straits of the semiclosed Solomon Sea. The system of WBCs is found to be complex. Its main feature, the New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent, splits in two branches: one flowing through Vitiaz Strait and the other one, the New Britain Coastal Undercurrent (NBCU), exiting at Solomon Strait. East of the Solomon Sea, the encounter of the South Equatorial Current (SEC) with the Solomon Islands forms a p...

Bifurcation of the Subtropical South Equatorial Current against New Caledonia in December 2004 from a Hydrographic Inverse Box Model

The South Equatorial Current (SEC), the westward branch of the South Pacific subtropical gyre, extends from the equator to 30°S at depth. Linear ocean dynamics predict that the SEC forms boundary currents on the eastern coasts of the South Pacific islands it encounters. Those currents would then detach at the northern and southern tips of the islands, and cross the Coral Sea in the form of jets. The Fiji Islands, the Vanuatu archipelago, and New Caledonia are the major topographic obstacles on the SEC pathway to the Australian coast. Large-scale numerical studies, as well as climatologies, suggest the formation of three jets in their lee: the north Vanuatu jet (NVJ), the north Caledonian jet (NCJ), and the south Caledonian jet (SCJ), implying a bifurcation against the east coast of each island. The flow observed during the SECALIS-2 cruise in December 2004 between Vanuatu and New Caledonia is presented herein. An inverse box model is used to provide quantitative transport estimates with uncertainties and to infer the pathways and boundary current formation. For that particular month, the 0–2000-m SEC inflow was found to be 20 4S v (1 Sv 10 6 m 3 s 1 ) between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Of that, 6 2 Sv bifurcated to the south in a boundary current against the New Caledonia coast (the Vauban Current), and the remainder exited north of New Caledonia, feeding the NCJ. The flow is comparable both above and below the thermocline, while complex topography, associated with oceanic eddy generation, introduces several recirculation features. To the north, the NCJ, which extends down to 1500 m, was fed not only by the SEC inflow, but also by waters coming from the north, which have possibly been recirculated. To the south, a westward current rounds the tip of New Caledonia. A numerical simulation suggests a partial continuity with the deep extension of the Vauban Current (this current would then be the SCJ) while the hydrographic sections are too distant to confirm such continuity.

Equatorward Pathways of Solomon Sea Water Masses and Their Modifications

The Solomon Sea is a key region of the southwest Pacific Ocean, connecting the thermocline subtropics to the equator via western boundary currents (WBCs). Modifications to water masses are thought to occur in this region because of the significant mixing induced by internal tides, eddies, and the WBCs. Despite their potential influence on the equatorial Pacific thermocline temperature and salinity and their related impact on the low-frequency modulation of El Nino-Southern Oscillation, modifications to water masses in the Solomon Sea have never been analyzed to our knowledge. A high-resolution model incorporating a tidal mixing parameterization was implemented to depict and analyze water mass modifications and the Solomon Sea pathways to the equator in a Lagrangian quantitative framework. The main routes from the Solomon Sea to the equatorial Pacific occur through the Vitiaz and Solomon straits, in the thermocline and intermediate layers, and mainly originate from the Solomon Sea south inflow and from the Solomon Strait itself. Water mass modifications in the model are characterized by a reduction of the vertical temperature and salinity gradients over the water column: the high salinity of upper thermocline water [Subtropical Mode Water (STMW)] is eroded and exported toward surface and deeper layers, whereas a downward heat transfer occurs over the water column. Consequently, the thermocline water temperature is cooled by 0.15°-0.3°C from the Solomon Sea inflows to the equatorward outflows. This temperature modification could weaken the STMW anomalies advected by the subtropical cell and thereby diminish the potential influence of these anomalies on the tropical climate. The Solomon Sea water mass modifications can be partially explained (≈60%) by strong diapycnal mixing in the Solomon Sea. As for STMW, about a third of this mixing is due to tidal mixing.

A comparison of coincidental time series of the ocean surface height by satellite altimeter, mooring, and inverted echo sounder

Altimetric measurements of sea surface height at two locations in the western tropical Pacific Ocean are compared to estimates of the dynamic sea surface height computed from cotemporal surface-to-bottom temperature/salinity measurements on moorings and acoustic travel time measured by bottom-moored inverted echo sounders. The results show statistically high correlation between the in situ measurements at periods greater than 5 days and between the altimeter and in situ measurements at periods greater than 20 days. The rms difference between any two modes of observation is consistently between 2 and 3 cm.

Sea surface salinity changes along the Fiji‐Japan shipping track during the 1996 La Niña and 1997 El Niño period

Sea-surface salinity (SSS) changes during the 1996 La Nina and 1997 El Nino events are analysed along the Fiji-Japan shipping track, based on 20 thermosalinograph sections. In the equatorial band, above-average SSS (35.2 to 35.4 instead of 35) were observed in 1996, consistent with a well-marked south equatorial current, an unusually-strong equatorial upwelling, and below-average precipitation (P). From January to August 1997, the SSS decreased sharply from 35.2 to 33.8 (lowest recorded monthly value over the last 20 years), compatible with a reversal of zonal current, the occurrence of equatorial downwelling, and above-average P. From September to November 1997, the SSS remained almost constant (34.2), consistent with the opposite effects of eastward current, likely bringing low saline water from the Pacific warm pool, and of evaporative cooling, vertical mixing and below-average P which all tend to increase SSS. The potential impacts of the observed SSS changes on sea level are discussed.