The impact of wave‐induced C oriolis‐ S tokes forcing on satellite‐derived ocean surface currents

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Oceans 2016-01, Vol.121 (1), p.410-426
• Main Authors: Hui, Zhenli, Xu, Yongsheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2169-9275; 2169-9291
• DOI: 10.1002/2015JC011082

Ocean surface currents estimated from the satellite data consist of two terms: Ekman currents from the wind stress and geostrophic currents from the sea surface height (SSH). But the classical Ekman model does not consider the wave effects. By taking the wave‐induced Coriolis‐Stokes forcing into account, the impact of waves (primarily the Stokes drift) on ocean surface currents is investigated and the wave‐modified currents are formed. The products are validated by comparing with OSCAR currents and Lagrangian drifter velocity. The result shows that our products with the Stokes drift are better adapted to the in situ Lagrangian drifter currents. Especially in the Southern Ocean region (40°S–65°S), 90% (91%) of the zonal (meridional) currents have been improved compared with currents that do not include Stokes drift. The correlation (RMSE) in the Southern Ocean has also increased (decreased) from 0.78 (13) to 0.81 (10.99) for the zonal component and 0.76 (10.87) to 0.79 (10.09) for the meridional component. This finding provides the evidence that waves indeed play an important role in the ocean circulation, and need to be represented in numerical simulations of the global ocean circulation. Ocean surface currents are influenced by surface waves Surface currents considering the impact of waves are better adapted to drifter currents The impact of waves on currents is especially obvious in the Southern Ocean region