Sea surface temperature assimilation for a three-dimensional baroclinic model of shelf seas

In this paper, a novel interpolation technique based on a greatly simplified Kalman filtering approach is presented which enables satellite sea surface temperature observations to be assimilated into a three-dimensional baroclinic model of the North Sea. A series of numerical experiments of the annual cycle of seasonal stratification demonstrate a large improvement in the predictive ability of the model, and show good agreement with theoretical calculations of expected performance.