Ocean Acoustic Tomography in the North Atlantic

Abstract

An objective mapping exercise simulating observations of temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean was used to assess the resolution capabilities of ocean acoustic tomography in combination with Argo floats. A set of basis functions for a basinwide area was obtained from a singular value decomposition of a covariance derived from an ocean state estimate. As demonstrated by the formal uncertainty estimates from the objective maps, Argo and tomography are complementary measurements. In several examples, each separately obtained uncertainty for determining large-scale monthly average temperature of about 50% of prior (resolved 75% of variance), while when both data were employed, uncertainties were reduced to about 25% of prior (resolved 94% of variance). Possible tomography configurations range from arrays that span specific regions to line arrays that supplement existing observations to arrays that span the Atlantic basin. A basinwide array consisting of two acoustic sources and seven receivers can be used to significantly reduce the uncertainties of estimated broad-scale temperature. An optimal observing system study would comprise simulated measurements in combination with data assimilation techniques and numerical ocean modeling. This objective map study, however, showed that the addition of tomography to the existing observing system could substantially reduce the uncertainties for estimated large-scale temperature. To the extent that tomography offers a 50% reduction in uncertainty at a fraction of the cost of the Argo program, it is a cost-effective contribution to the ocean observing system.