All ocean L4 products distributed by CP34 BEC are obtained by the application of singularity-based fusion. We will discuss this technique in greater detail in this blog when the paper presently under revision is available. So far, it suffices to comment that with this technique a template variable (Sea surface temperature, SST, in our case) of good quality is used to restore the multifractal structure of singularity fronts on a noisy variable (SSS in our case). To know more about the multifractal structure of ocean scalars please consult the 2009 Ocean Science paper.

Sequence of binned L3 SSS maps
The animation above represents the sequence of binned L3 SSS maps; each frame is a 10-day average, which a time lag of three days between the beginning of consecutive averaging periods. This map has a resolution of 1 degree X 1 degree, what is a rather coarse time and space resolution when phenomena like Tropical Instability Waves or the onset of a El Nino are sought. To make things worse, present levels of accuracy on SMOS products make even harder to characterize this large scale phenomena. This is a typical situation in which L4 products can come to rescue!