Reconstructing vertical profiles of geostrophic velocities from altimeter data: application to the Sicily Channel (Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

Different methods for the extrapolation of vertical profiles from sea surface measurements are presented. The techniques, called Coupled Pattern Reconstruction (CPR) and multivariate EOF Reconstruction (mEOF-R) base on the multivariate analysis of the variability of vertical profiles from hydrographic data and on the hypothesis that only few modes are needed to explain most of the variance/covariance of the fields. The CPR and mEOF-R methods have been applied and tested on the data collected during SYMPLEX survey in a selected area of the Mediterranean sea (the Channel of Sicily), also using simultaneous altimeter measurements as surface input.