A comparison of in situ bottom pressure array measurements with GRACE estimates in the Kuroshio Extension
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
9-16-2008
Abstract
Ocean bottom pressure estimates from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) have been validated by comparisons with an array of in situ bottom pressure measurements. The 600 km by 600 km array comprised 46 bottom pressure sensors that were part of the Kuroshio Extension System Study (KESS). Validations in other ocean regions have been limited by available data to pointwise bottom pressure measurements. Spatially-averaged monthly-mean bottom pressure over the KESS array is highly correlated with GRACE bottom pressure estimated at the center of the array. The correlations are nearly equally high for three standard choices of spatial smoothing radius applied to GRACE estimates, 300, 500, and 750 km. In contrast, pointwise comparisons between GRACE and individual bottom pressures are high or low in sub-regions of KESS, depending partially upon the local variance of deep mesoscale eddies whose energetic length scales are shorter than 300 km. KESS is a suitable validation experiment for the GRACE estimates at monthly scales with 300 to 750 km spatial radius of smoothing. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
35
Issue
17
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Park, Jae Hun, D. R. Watts, Kathleen A. Donohue, and Steven R. Jayne. "A comparison of in situ bottom pressure array measurements with GRACE estimates in the Kuroshio Extension." Geophysical Research Letters 35, 17 (2008). doi: 10.1029/2008GL034778.