The Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences

2027 Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences

January 12-15, 2027

Identification and Wave-flow Field Inversion of Internal Solitary Waves from SWOT Observations Based on a Strongly Nonlinear Model
ID:975 Oral Presentation

2027-01-14 15:50 (China Standard Time)

Session:Session 9 - Ocean Dynamics in the SWOT Era: New Methods, Discoveries, Insights and Challenges

Abstract
The interaction of incoming barotropic semidiurnal tides from the western Pacific with the double ridges in the Luzon Strait generates large-amplitude baroclinic internal tides, which subsequently evolve into strongly nonlinear internal solitary waves (ISWs) in the northern South China Sea through nonlinear steepening. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical remote sensing can only capture the 2D distribution of sea surface roughness or reflectivity caused by internal solitary waves, which inevitably leads to errors when using satellite images to invert internal solitary waves. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, launched in 2022 and equipped with the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), marks a transformative advance in oceanographic remote sensing. However, improving the retrieval accuracy of ISWs from SWOT data critically depends on the development of robust dynamic decomposition algorithms, precise crest-line extraction methods, and accurate inversion of subsurface wave-current fields. In this study, we propose an automatic method for identifying and extracting ISW crest lines from SWOT observations, establish an inversion framework for ISW parameters and their associated velocity fields based on a strongly nonlinear model, and validate the inversion accuracy using in-situ measurements. On this basis, we analyze the characteristics of ISWs in the northern South China Sea using our proposed identification and retrieval schemes. The results provide a scientific foundation for leveraging SWOT's high-precision observational data to conduct comprehensive, high-resolution investigations into the spatiotemporal evolution and underlying dynamic mechanisms of ISWs in the South China Sea.
Speaker
Shaodong Wang National University of Defense Technology

Author
Shaodong Wang National University of Defense Technology

    Important Dates

    • Jan 30

      2026

      Session / Event proposals open

    • Mar 31

      2026

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    • Apr 30

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    • Jun 30

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    • Aug 31

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    • Sep 15

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    • Jan 12–15

      2027

      XMAS 2027