Mediterranean surface dance — Apr → Aug 2023 (SWOT Fast-Sampling Phase)
Black arrows = eOdyn OS Total Surface Currents (Ship motion-derived, 5 km).
Magenta dots = SVP drifters following the flow, drogued at 15 m to minimise wind-driven surface-current effects.
Colour field = Copernicus Marine Service Chlorophyll-a showing where biology blooms.
In 19 seconds you’ll see spring gyres spin up, the Algerian Current jet fire east, and drifters glide across the Algero-Provençal Basin—all while SWOT’s KaRIn swaths were passing overhead every day.
Why share?
These model-free currents and drifter tracks give the SWOT team a high-frequency, coastal-to-basin benchmark for converting sea-surface height into real velocities.
AIS source: coastal messages supplied by DGAMPA and CEREMA and collected by EU Member States, processed by eOdyn.Drifter data: open SVP set (doi 10.17882/100828)
