SKIM, a Candidate Satellite Mission Exploring Global Ocean Currents and Waves
Ardhuin, F; Brandt, P; Gaultier, L; et al.Donlon, C; Battaglia, A; Boy, F; Casal, T; Chapron, B; Collard, F; Cravette, S; Delouis, J-M; De Witte, E; Dibarbourne, G; Engen, G; Johnson, H; Lique, C; Lopez-Dekker, P; Maes, C; Martin, A; Marié, L; Menemenlis, D; Nouguier, F; Peureux, C; Rampal, P; Ressler, G; Rio, M-H; Rommen, B; Shutler, JD; Suess, M; Tsamados, M; Ubelmann, C; van der Oever, M; Stammer, D
Date: 30 April 2019
Journal
Frontiers in Marine Science
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Publisher DOI
Abstract
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 ...
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
Ardhuin et al. SKIM for Currents and Waves
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
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