ABSTRACT

This paper reviews physical mechanisms, observation techniques and modelling approaches dealing with surface currents on short time scales (hours to days) relevant for operational oceanography. Key motivations for this article include fundamental difficulties in reliable measurements and the persistent lack of a widely held consensus on the definition of surface currents. These problems are augmented by the fact that various methods to observe and model ocean currents yield very different representations of a surface current. We distinguish between four applicable definitions for surface currents; (i) the interfacial surface current, (ii) the direct wind-driven surface current, (iii) the surface boundary layer current, and (iv) an effective drift current. Finally, we discuss challenges in synthesising various data sources of surface currents - i.e. observational and modelling – and take a view on the predictability of surface currents concluding with arguments that parts of the surface circulation exhibit predictability useful in an operational context.

摘要

本文回顾了与业务海洋学相关的短时间尺度（小时到天）内处理地表洋流的物理机制、观测技术和建模方法。写这篇文章的主要动机包括可靠测量中的根本困难，以及在表面电流的定义上一直缺乏广泛的共识。这些问题因观察和模拟洋流的各种方法产生非常不同的表面流表示而加剧。我们区分了表面电流的四种适用定义；(i) 界面表面电流，(ii) 直接风驱动表面电流，(iii) 表面边界层电流，以及 (iv) 有效漂移电流。最后，我们讨论了合成各种表面电流数据源的挑战 - 即