Subsurface temperature estimation of mesoscale eddies in the Northwest Pacific Ocean from satellite observations using a residual muti-channel attention convolution network

Abstract

The mesoscale eddies are prevalent oceanic circulation phenomena, exerting significant influence on various aspects of the marine environment including energy transfer, material transport and ecosystem dynamics in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. However, due to sparse vertical observational data, the understanding of the three-dimensional temperature structure of individual cases of mesoscale eddies remains limited. In recent years, utilizing surface remote sensing observations to estimate subsurface temperature anomaly has been crucial for comprehending the intricate multi-dimensional dynamic processes in the ocean. Consequently, this paper proposes an eddy residual multi-channel attention convolution network (ERCACN) with the adaptive threshold and designs the combination of various surface features to estimate the eddy subsurface temperature anomaly (ESTA). By integrating results with climatic temperature, thermal structures containing 46 levels at depths up to 1000 m could be obtained, achieving excellent daily temporal resolution and 0.25° spatial resolution. Validation using independent Argo profiles from 2016 to 2017 reveals that the combination of multiple surface variables outperforms univariate methods, and the ERCACN model demonstrates superior performance compared to other approaches. Overall, with an 8% error deemed acceptable, the ERCACN model achieves a precision of 88.08% in estimating ESTA. This method provides a novel perspective for other essential oceanic variables, contributing to a better perception of the global climate system.