A new algorithm for reconstructing the three-dimensional flow field of the oceanic mesoscale eddy*

Abstract

A new algorithm for reconstructing the three-dimensional flow field of the oceanic mesoscale eddies is proposed in this paper, based on variational method. Firstly, with the numerical differentiation Tikhonov regularizer, we reconstruct the continuous horizontal flow field on discrete grid points at each layer in the oceanic region, in terms of the horizontal flow field observations. Secondly, benefitting from the variational optimization analysis and its improvemen, we reconstruct a three-dimensional flow field under the constraint of the horizontal flow and the vertical flow. The results of simulation experiments validate that the relative error of the new algorithm is lower than that of the finite difference method in the case of high grid resolution, which still holds in the case of unknown observational errors or in the absence of vertical velocity boundary conditions. Finally, using the reanalysis horizontal data sourcing from SODA and the proposed algorithm, we reconstruct three-dimensional flow field structure for the real oceanic mesoscale eddy.