BibTeX
@ARTICLE{
         Losch2002EaM,
       author = "Martin Losch and Ren{\'e} Redler and Jens Schr{\"o}ter",
       title = "Estimating a Mean Ocean State from Hydrography and Sea-Surface Height Data with a
         Nonlinear Inverse Section Model: Twin Experiments with a Synthetic Dataset",
       journal = "Journal of Physical Oceanography",
       year = "2002",
       volume = "32",
       number = "7",
       pages = "2096--2112",
       ad_tools = "TAMC",
       ad_area = "Oceanography",
       pdf = "http://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.14983.d001",
       ad_theotech = "Adjoint, Hessian",
       doi = "10.1175/1520-0485(2002)032<2096:EAMOSF>2.0.CO;2",
       abstract = "The recovery of the oceanic flow field from in situ data is one of the oldest
         problems of modern oceanography. In this study, a stationary, nonlinear inverse model is used to
         estimate a mean geostrophic flow field from hydrographic data along a hydrographic section. The
         model is augmented to improve these estimates with measurements of the absolute sea-surface height
         by satellite altimetry. Measurements of the absolute sea-surface height include estimates of an
         equipotential surface, the geoid. Compared to oceanographic measurements, the geoid is known only to
         low accuracy and spatial resolution, which restricts the use of sea-surface height data to
         applications of large-scale phenomena of the circulation. Dedicated satellite missions that are
         designed for high precision, high-resolution geoid models are planned and/or in preparation. This
         study, which relies on twin experiments, assesses the important contribution of improved geoid
         models to estimating the mean flow field along a hydrographic section. When the sea-surface height
         data are weighted according to the error estimates of the future highly accurate geoid models GRACE
         (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) and GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation
         Explorer), integrated fluxes of mass and temperature can be determined with an accuracy that is
         improved over the case with no sea-surface height data by up to 55\%. With the error estimates
         of the currently best geoid model EGM96, the reduction of the estimated flux errors does not exceed
         18\%."
}