SKIM, a Candidate Satellite Mission Exploring Global Ocean Currents and Waves

Frontiers in Marine Science

Paco Lopez-Dekker¹  Adrien Martin²  Dimitris Menemenlis³  Pierre Rampal⁴  Marie-Helene Rio⁵  Jamie D. Shutler⁶  Michel Tsamados⁷  Clement Ubelmann⁸  Erik van Sebille⁹  Detlef Stammer^1,10  Gerald Dibarboure^1,11  François Boy^1,11  Craig Donlon^1,12  Erik De Witte^1,12  Gerhard Ressler^1,12  Martin Suess^1,12  Tania Casal^1,12  Peter Brandt^1,14  Sophie Cravatte^1,15  Alessandro Battaglia^1,16  Martin van den Oever^1,16  Geir Engen^1,17  Harald Johnsen^1,17  Lucile Gaultier^1,18  Fabrice Collard^1,18  Frederic Nouguier^1,19  Camille Lique^1,19  Bjorn Rommen^1,19  Bertrand Chapron^1,19  Louis Marié^1,19  Jean-Marc Delouis^1,19  Charles Peureux^1,19  Fabrice Ardhuin^1,19  Christophe Maes^1,19 

[1] 0Geoscience and Remote Sensing Department, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands;1National Oceanography Center, Southampton, United Kingdom;2Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States;3Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, Norway;4European Space Agency, Frascati, Italy;5Center for Geography and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom;6Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom;7Collecte Localisation Satellites, Ramonville Saint Agne, France;8Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands;9Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany;Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, France;European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands;GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel, Kiel, Germany;Kiel University, Kiel, Germany;LEGOS, University of Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Toulouse, France;National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom;Norut Information Technology Ltd., Tromsø, Norway;OceanDataLab, Brest, France;Univ. Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM, Brest, France;

关键词: ocean current;    tropics;    Arctic;    Doppler;    altimetry;    sea state;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2019.00209

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) satellite mission is designed to explore ocean surface current and waves. This includes tropical currents, notably the poorly known patterns of divergence and their impact on the ocean heat budget, and monitoring of the emerging Arctic up to 82.5°N. SKIM will also make unprecedented direct measurements of strong currents, from boundary currents to the Antarctic circumpolar current, and their interaction with ocean waves with expected impacts on air-sea fluxes and extreme waves. For the first time, SKIM will directly measure the ocean surface current vector from space. The main instrument on SKIM is a Ka-band conically scanning, multi-beam Doppler radar altimeter/wave scatterometer that includes a state-of-the-art nadir beam comparable to the Poseidon-4 instrument on Sentinel 6. The well proven Doppler pulse-pair technique will give a surface drift velocity representative of the top meter of the ocean, after subtracting a large wave-induced contribution. Horizontal velocity components will be obtained with an accuracy better than 7 cm/s for horizontal wavelengths larger than 80 km and time resolutions larger than 15 days, with a mean revisit time of 4 days for of 99% of the global oceans. This will provide unique and innovative measurements that will further our understanding of the transports in the upper ocean layer, permanently distributing heat, carbon, plankton, and plastics. SKIM will also benefit from co-located measurements of water vapor, rain rate, sea ice concentration, and wind vectors provided by the European operational satellite MetOp-SG(B), allowing many joint analyses. SKIM is one of the two candidate satellite missions under development for ESA Earth Explorer 9. The other candidate is the Far infrared Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM). The final selection will be announced by September 2019, for a launch in the coming decade.

【 授权许可】

Unknown