Air-Sea Heat Flux Estimation by Ocean Data Assimilation Using Satellite and TOGA/TAO Buoy Data

A data assimilation system for a 1-dimensional mixed layer model has been constructed using the adjoint method. The classical adjoint method does not work well for the mixed layer variabilities due to the occurrence of spikes in the gradient of the cost function. To solve this problem, the two techniques of scaling the cost function and optimization in the frequency space are used. As a result, the heat flux can be reliably estimated with an accuracy of 8Wm$^{-2}$ rms error in the identical twin experiments. We then applied this system to the tropical Pacific TOGA-TAO buoy data. The air-sea heat flux as well as the mixed layer variability were estimated in close approximation to the buoy data, particularly on time scales longer than the seasonal one.