Estimation of Sea Surface Current Vector based on Satellite Ocean Color Image around the Korean Marginal Sea

One of the most difficult parameters to measure in the sea is current speed and direction. Recently, efforts are being made to estimate the ocean current vectors by utilizing sequential satellite imageries. In this study, we attempted to estimated sea surface current vector (sscv) by using satellite ocean color imageries of SeaWifs around the Korean Peninsula. This ocean color image data has 1-day sampling interval and spatial resolution of 1x1 km. Maximum cross-correlation method is employed which is aimed to detect similar patterns between sequential images. The estimated current vectors are compared to the surface geostrophic current vectors obtained from altimeter of sea level height data. In utilizing the color imagery data, some limitations and drawbacks exist so that in warm water region where phytoplankton concentration is relatively lower than in cold water region, estimation of sscv is poor and unreliable. On the other hand, two current vector fields agree reasonably well in the Korean South Sea region where high concentration of chlorophyll-a and weak tide is observed. In the future, with ocean color images of shorter sampling interval by COMS satellite, the algorithm and methodology developed in the study would be useful in providing the information for the ocean current around Korean Peninsula.