Prof. Igor Belkin

Zhejiang Ocean University

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology

Email: igormbelkin@gmail.com

Research interests: Ocean fronts and mesoscale eddies.

Global Survey of Ocean Fronts

Abstract

I will provide an overview of a long-term, open-ended global survey of ocean fronts initiated at the University of Rhode Island in the 1990s. Until recently, this survey has been largely based on front detection in satellite imagery. Various algorithms have been developed and used to map fronts in various parts of the World Ocean. The Cayula-Cornillon algorithm (CCA) has been used to map SST fronts globally. Spatial resolution of CCA-derived global climatology of SST fronts improved from 9 km to 4 km globally, and to 1 km locally, while nominal temporal resolution remained constant at 12 hours. Today’s version of this climatology is based on 37 years of AVHRR SST data (1982-2018). The next phase of this project will focus on validation of satellite-derived fronts with surface and subsurface in situ oceanographic data