CoAuthors

Carlos Lozano (noaa, us); Avichal Mehra (noaa, us); Dan Iredell (noaa, us)

Satellite altimeter sea surface height anomalies (SSHA) from Jason-2, AltiKa, and CryoSat-2; and recent estimates of mean dynamic topography (MDT) are explored for use in real time RTOFS-Atlantic for SSH data assimilation, and in delayed mode for daily SSH analysis.. Sensitivity of assimilation parameters in the performance of these products and revised SSH assimilation algorithms will be illustrated. An overall improvement in the forecast can be traced to the quality of the new products; and there remain some open questions including the extension of useful altimeter data in the continental shelves of the Atlantic.