Determining Currents in the Reservoir by Consequent Subdaily Satellite Images

Abstract: Reconstructing the field of currents using remote sensing methods is a traditional task of oceanology. Satellite instruments such as altimeters, Doppler radars, and optical sensors are routinely used to solve oceanological problems for waters with large dimensions (open areas of the seas and oceans). The latter work well for reservoirs with significant water temperature gradients when applying the method of processing successive satellite images with varying time delays. Less commonly, areas of intense phytoplankton blooms, which are usual for productive waters, are used as markers for image matching. Such waters can be monitored with satellite ocean color sensors that provide high spatial resolution. The goal of the present paper is to investigate the possibility of reconstructing the flow field in the Gorki Reservoir, as an example of a medium-sized eutrophic reservoir, from sequent images of two different high-resolution ocean color sensors with a short time delay between images. This paper describes the field experiment under the satellite overpasses and presents the results of applying the maximum correlation method to two satellite images for the retrieval of the current field in comparison with shipboard data. It is shown that the proposed method has prospects for development.