Marine Hydrology

Comparison of Jason-1 satellite altimeter and buoy measurements in the coastal water of the northern South China Sea

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  • 1. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Guangzhou 510301, China; 3. Guangzhou Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Guangzhou 510080, China; 4. Maoming Meteorological Bureau, Maoming 525000, China; 5. ChinaRS Geoinformatics Co.,Ltd, Dongguan 523808, China;

Received date: 2012-06-19

  Revised date: 2012-09-05

  Online published: 2013-11-21

Abstract

Based on the data measured by three buoys and Jason-1 satellite altimeter in the coastal water of the northern South China Sea (SCS) from October 2010 to July 2011, the sea surface wind speed and significant wave height (Hs) from the buoys and Jason-1 are compared. The results indicate that Jason-1 data is in good agreement with the buoy data in the coastal water of the northern SCS. However, the altimeter data has a tendency to overestimate Hs, overestimate the wind speed in low sea states, and underestimate it in high sea states. The discrepancy in the Hs measured by altimeter and buoys is greatly affected by the distance between them; as the distance increases, the dispersion of Hs becomes larger; the correlation coefficient gradually decreases, and the bias and the RMS gradually increase. These results also hold for the wind speed.

Cite this article

LIU Hua, WANG Jing, QI Yi-quan, LIU Chun-xia, HUANG Jian, LÜ Wei-hua . Comparison of Jason-1 satellite altimeter and buoy measurements in the coastal water of the northern South China Sea[J]. Journal of Tropical Oceanography, 2013 , 32(5) : 15 -22 . DOI: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2013.05.003

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