GIS and high resolution atmospheric modelling for corrections of sea surface observations from the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeter

We use a high resolution atmospheric model, MM5V1, to derive a new set of inverse barometer corrections for 10 days of sea surface height observations in the North Atlantic from the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimetry mission. The observations and the model output are combined using elements from a newly developed geographical information system (GIS) integrating temporal, as well as spatial, data handling. The new set of corrections show to be slightly better, but comparable to the existing (which are based on spatially and temporally coarse resolution global-coverage data sets), suggesting that such work is worth the effort primarily in cases where the atmosphere-ocean interaction is studied at very high spatial and temporal resolution. The GIS elements used showed to be highly convenient and minimized the work of integrating the altimetry and the model output, by handling the differences in reference systems in a transparent manner.