SWOT impact on the ocean mesoscale dynamics at the NORdic high-latitudes (SWOT-NOR)

Principle Investigator: Antonio Bonaduce (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC))

Co-Investigator(s): Johnny Johannessen, Artem Moiseev, Roshin Raj, Julien Brajard, Tsuyoshi Wakamatsu, Michael Hart-Davis, Andrea Storto, Kjell-Arne Mork, Daniel Warren Koestner, Marina Duran Moro, Martina Idžanović, Øyvind Breivik

Collaborator(s): Florian Le Guillou, Bjorn Backeberg

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The SWOT-NOR project aims to exploit data from NADIR and KARIN altimeters on-board the SWOT mission to better constrain the mesoscale dynamics in the eddy-rich areas of the high latitude Nordic seas. Scientific exploitation of the KARIN data will be done, particularly at the cross-over points of the fast sampling- and science-phase orbits to obtain new insights into eddy dissipation and intensification scales of variability and eddy-induced processes modulating the cross-shelf exchanges. The synergies with other missions (e.g. Sentinels, MODIS, Radarsat) will be assessed for strengthening the co-variability analyses and partitioning of geostrophic balance and ageostrophic processes. The collocation of the mesoscale features detected at the surface with in-situ autonomous profilers (i.e. Argo floats) will be performed while invoking AI/ML methods to reconstruct the 3D structure of the mesoscale ocean physics and biology. KaRIn and NADIR data will also be combined with conventional and coastal altimetry data to assess the impact of SWOT on the representation of the ocean topography. This will also offer the opportunity to tackle the interactions between ocean mesoscale dynamics and internal tides resolved by SWOT. The wide-swath altimetry data will also feed assimilative experiments to investigate the impact of the SWOT mission on constraining the mesoscale variability in ocean analysis and forecasting systems, including the TOPAZ system that contributes to the Copernicus Marine Environment Services for the high latitude seas and Arctic Ocean.