Application of SeaWiFS Chlorophyll-a Ocean Color Image for estimating Sea Surface Currents from Geostationary Ocean Color Imagery (GOCI) data

One of the most difficult tasks in measuring oceanic conditions is to produce oceanic current information. In efforts to overcome the difficulties, various attempts have been carried out to estimate the speed and direction of ocean currents by utilizing sequential satellite images. In this study, we have estimated sea surface current vectors to the south of the Korean Peninsula, based on the maximum cross-correlation method by using sequential ocean color images of SeaWiFS chlorophyll-a. Comparison of surface current vectors estimated by this method with the geostrophic current vectors estimated from satellite altimeter data and in-situ ADCP measurements are good in that current speeds are underestimated by about 15% and current directions are show differences of about 36' compared with previous results. The technique of estimating current vectors based on maximum cross-correlation applied on sequential images of SeaWiFS is promising for the future application of GOCI data for the ocean studies.