Ocean applications of dedicated gravity mission
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GRACE ocean currents↗
Engineering topics
Wunsch, C.
Publications and source records attributed to Wunsch, C..
Using data with models - Ill-posed problems
An attempt is made to show that the combination of data with models leads to a sequence of conventionally ill-posed problems which can be treated in a systematic and practical way by control-theory techniques. The illustrative approach is to exploit the very great mathematical simplifications which result when the methods of finite dimensional vector spaces are used, thus reducing a lot of difficult mathematics to classical least squares. The immediate motivation for this study comes from ocean acoustic tomography.
Wunsch, C.↗
Synoptic Gulf Stream velocity profiles through simultaneous inversion of hydrographic and acoustic Doppler data
Data from a shipborne acoustic profiling device have been combined with conductivity, temperature, depth/O2 sections across the Gulf Stream to form estimates of the absolute flow fields. The procedure for the combination was a form of inverse method. The results suggest that at the time of the observations (June 1982) the net Gulf Stream transport off Hatteras was 107 + or - 11 Sv and that across a section near 72.5 W it had increased to 125 + or - 6 Sv. The transport of the deep western boundary current was 9 + or - 3 Sv. For comparison purposes an inversion was done using the hydrographic/O2 data alone as in previously published results and obtained qualitative agreement with the combined inversion. Inversion of the acoustic measurements alone, when corrected for instrument biases, leaves unacceptably large mass transport residuals in the deep water.
Joyce, T. M.↗
The accuracy of altimetric surfaces
Estimates of the shape of the sea surface as determined from satellite altimeters have become of increasing importance in geophysics, geodesy and physical oceanography. The most effective error reduction procedures used in producing these surfaces have been some version of a crossing-arc analysis. The problem with this procedure is the absence of an easy means of evaluating the noise structure of the final result. By recasting the problem as one of objective mapping (optimal estimation) the error reduction is optimized and an explicit estimate is obtained of the wave-number structure of the final altimetric surface. Examples, suitable to a small computer, have been generated to show that the error reduction along the sub-satellite tracks is very great, with most of the residual lying in long wavelengths.
Wunsch, C.↗
TOPEX - Observing the oceans from space
Measurement of global ocean topography by a radar altimeter aboard the TOPEX satellite is discussed. Technical aspects of satellite altimetry as they pertain to the measurement of ocean circulation are described. The TOPEX mission is explained and a general history of oceanography is included.
Born, G. H.↗
An estimate of global absolute dynamic topography
The absolute dynamic topography of the world ocean is estimated from the largest scales to a short-wavelength cutoff of about 6700 km for the period July through September, 1978. The data base consisted of the time-averaged sea-surface topography determined by Seasat and geoid estimates made at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The issues are those of accuracy and resolution. Use of the altimetric surface as a geoid estimate beyond the short-wavelength cutoff reduces the spectral leakage in the estimated dynamic topography from erroneous small-scale geoid estimates without contaminating the low wavenumbers. Comparison of the result with a similarly filtered version of Levitus' (1982) historical average dynamic topography shows good qualitative agreement. There is quantitative disagreement, but it is within the estimated errors of both methods of calculation.
Tai, C.-K.↗
Absolute measurement by satellite altimetry of dynamic topography of the Pacific Ocean
The three-month Seasat mission has shown that altimetry is capable of providing global observations of oceanic variability. It is shown that data from this short, suboptimum mission are also adequate for a determination of the absolute sea-surface topography of the ocean on large scales. An absolute determination of the subtropical gyre of the North Pacific Ocean is obtained. This is believed to be the first direct measurement showing the existence of such a feature that does not depend on conventional hydrography and a series of assumptions.
Tai, C.-K.↗
The inverse problem of constructing a gravimetric geoid
Computation of a single geoidal height from gravity acceleration data formally requires that the latter be known everywhere on the earth. A computational procedure based on linear inverse theory for estimating geoidal heights from incomplete sets of data is presented. The same scheme can be used to estimate gravity accelerations from altimetry-derived geoids. The systematic error owing to lack of data and the choice of a particular inverse operator is described by using resolution functions and their spherical harmonic expansions. An rms value of this error is also estimated by assuming a spectrum for the unknown geoid. The influence of the size of the data region, the spacing between data, the filtering applied to the data, and the model weighting function chosen are all quantified in a spherical geometry. The examples presented show that when low degree spherical harmonic coefficients are available - from satellite orbit analysis - a band-passed version of the geoid can be constructed from local gravity data, even with a relatively restricted data set.
Zlotnicki, V.↗