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On evaluating the effect of assimilating glider-observed T/S profiles with different horizontal resolutions and assimilation frequencies

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Abstract

Underwater gliders can provide real-time and spatially flexible temperature/salinity (T/S) observations for improving the marine forecast by data assimilation. By conducting Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), this study aims to investigate the effect of assimilating glider-observed T/S profiles regarding the horizontal resolution of glider deployment and assimilation frequency, as well as the combination of assimilating satellite-derived sea level anomaly (SLA), on the forecast skill for an extreme warm eddy in the Northwestern South China Sea (SCS) in 2010. The results of OSSEs show that assimilating either glider-observed T/S profiles or satellite-derived SLA is able to improve the forecast skill, and assimilating both of them gains the largest improvement. Under the premise of a full coverage of the eddy, it is found that the higher horizontal resolution of glider deployment is, the better forecast skill will be obtained. Meanwhile, the assimilation of the glider-observed T/S profiles with a 12-h interval achieves the best forecast skill among the intervals of 4 h, 8 h, 12 h, and 24 h. These results provide valuable reference for the deployment of underwater gliders as well as the assimilation strategy of glider observations for improving the real-time marine forecast in the Northwestern SCS in the future.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the use of the HPCC at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Funding

This work was jointly supported by Major Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41890851 and 41931182), Innovation Research Group of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41521005), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou, grant number GML2019ZD0303), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41676016 and 41776028), Guangdong Key Project (grant number 2019BT2H594), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number XDA13030103 and XDA19060503), CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams, Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number ZDRW-XH-2019-2 and ISEE2018PY05), and the Independent Research Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (LTOZZ1902).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Yuhang Zhu, Yineng Li & Shiqiu Peng

  2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China

    Yineng Li & Shiqiu Peng

  3. Institution of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Yineng Li

  4. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Marine Disaster in the Beibu Gulf, Bubei Gulf University, Qinzhou, China

    Shiqiu Peng

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yuhang Zhu & Shiqiu Peng

Authors
  1. Yuhang Zhu
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  2. Yineng Li
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  3. Shiqiu Peng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yineng Li.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Tal Ezer

This article is part of the Topical Collection on the 11th International Workshop on Modeling the Ocean (IWMO), Wuxi, China, 17-20 June 2019

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Zhu, Y., Li, Y. & Peng, S. On evaluating the effect of assimilating glider-observed T/S profiles with different horizontal resolutions and assimilation frequencies. Ocean Dynamics 70, 827–837 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-020-01366-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-020-01366-4

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