The SOCIB satellite imagery processes ocean data from the Copernicus Marine Service satellite products and generates images, providing added-value information about the surface ocean state and variability in the western Mediterranean Sea and its different sub-regions (Figure 1) from the open ocean to coastal areas. The daily bulletin and climatological statistics provide a comprehensive set of Essential Ocean Variables⁽¹⁾ in support to the oceanographic campaigns in operations and preparation, respectively. Specific events are detected thanks to the satellite images and some relevant examples are reported here. Additionally, the climatologies allow the identification and the estimations of regional features (e.g. spatial and temporal characteristics of currents, mesoscale activities). Finally, the last generation of satellites, in particular Sentinel-2, provides very high spatial resolution (10 m) images allowing the analysis of coastal processes.

Figure 1: Bathymetry (in m) in the western Mediterranean Sea and its sub-regions (black boxes): Alboran Sea, Algerian sub-basin, Balearic Islands region and north-western Mediterranean (NWMED).

⁽¹⁾ Essential Ocean Variables (as defined by GOOS and IOC-UNESCO) and derived variables

Ocean temperature: sea surface temperature (SST), SST anomaly, SST gradient

Ocean colour (primary production): chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL), CHL anomaly, CHL gradient

Ocean currents: geostrophic velocity, absolute dynamic topography, total kinetic energy

Ocean surface stress: wind speed and direction, Ekman transport, Ekman pumping

Data credits The sub-regional indicators are generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.