Identification of Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Surface Salinity Fronts along the California Coast: Application Using Saildrone and Satellite Derived Products

Coastal upwelling regions are one of the most dynamic areas world’s oceans. The California and Baja Coasts impacted by both coastal Current, leading to frontal activity that is captured gradients in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Salinity (SSS). Satellite data a great source spatial study fronts. However, biases near coarse resolutions can impair its usefulness areas. In this work SST from NASA Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) two SSS products derived Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission compared directly with Saildrone uncrewed vehicles validate as well assess their ability detect known features. three remotely sensed sets (MURSST/JPL, SMAP SSS/RSS, SSS) were co-located prior calculation gradients. Wavelet analysis used determine how satellite reproducing Overall results indicate remote sensing features upwelling. Differences between mainly associated limitations microwave coverage land reduced resolution. promising for using monitor structure along Coast application long term changes dynamics.