Publications

Mauzole, YL (2022). Objective delineation of persistent SST fronts based on global satellite observations. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT, 269, 112798.

Abstract
A novel method is introduced to objectively and automatically identify persistent thermal fronts across the ocean from 60 degrees N to 60 degrees S: FROnt Delineation in the Ocean (FRODO), an algorithm developed to delineate sea surface temperature (SST) fronts, was applied to global satellite observations. By relying on long-term averaged frontal probability fields of SST, persistent SST fronts were located globally in an automated manner. The algorithm was applied to AVHRR Pathfinder and MODIS observations, spanning the period from 1982 through 2011, and resulted in new insights regarding frontal zones: new fronts were detected, the location of some fronts identified in the existing literature has been updated, the accuracy of the algorithm was tested through comparison with visible color and SST data, and the variability in frontal location over climatological seasons was explored. While significant spatial variability prevents the algorithm from accurately tracking some fronts, the results were found to agree very well with observations in the case of fronts associated with ocean bathymetry. The output of the algorithm consists of five digital global sets of persistent fronts: one based on the 30 year time series and four based on the climatological seasons derived from the same time series, which will facilitate the study of the links between SST fronts and other oceanic processes.

DOI:
10.1016/j.rse.2021.112798

ISSN:
1879-0704