DYNED-Atlas

The aim of the DYNED-Atlas project is to build an unique database of surface intensified eddies for a 15 year period (2000-2015) in two specific areas: the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea. This database will contain the physical and the dynamical characteristic of large-scale eddies detected from their sea surface height signature. The DYNED-Atlas will contain (among other characteristics) the typical size, intensity and trajectory of each detected eddy but also an estimation of their vertical extend. The estimation of three-dimensional eddy structures will be deduced from the co-localization of surfacing Argo temperature/salinity data into altimeter-detected eddy areas. From this first guess on the three-dimensional structure of the detected eddies we could quantify the acoustic impact of these large scale eddies on the sonar detection of submarines. Unlike most of the statistical studies on oceanic eddy distribution, we will use few tens of eddy test cases (from another independent set of in-situ measurements) to check the accuracy of DYNED-Atlas database. Moreover, we will test in real time the whole methodology of the eddy detection and characterization during two oceanic surveys (PHYSIDIEN, PROTEVSMED) that will be held in 2016 and 2017. A graphic user interface (GUI) will also be provided with the database in order to have an easy visualization of the detected eddies. This tool will allow to follow the dynamical evolution of individual eddies during the 2000-2015 period but also to compute several statistical eddy distribution in a given area. Moreover, we will use the DYNED-Atlas database for cross-validation of regional oceanographic models of the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea. We will work on the best methodology to compare quantitatively the eddy field and their formation areas between these specific regional models and the database.