Sea surface temperature assimilation for a three-dimensional baroclinic model of shelf seas

In this paper, a novel interpolation technique based on a greatly simplifie d Kalman filtering approach is presented which enables satellite sea surfac e temperature observations to be assimilated into a three-dimensional baroc linic model of the North Sea. A series of numerical experiments of the annu al cycle of seasonal stratification demonstrate a large improvement in the predictive ability of the model, and show good agreement with theoretical c alculations of expected performance. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rig hts reserved.