Mapping surface coastal currents with satellite imagery and altimetry

The Maximum Cross Correlation (MCC) method is used with infrared and passive microwave images of sea surface temperature (SST) along with ocean color images to compute sea surface currents from sequential imagery. These surface currents are then merged with geostrophic surface currents computed from coincident satellite altimetry observations to yield a high spatial resolution map of the surface mesoscale currents of the ocean. These methods are shown to be of particular value in the coastal ocean where the mesoscale dominates the surface flow field. The passive microwave data is best for mapping the larger basin scale currents due to their all-weather sensing capability.