Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data

Nikita Sandalyuk; Eduard M. Khachatrian

doi:10.2205/2026es001081

VAK Russia 1.6 UDC 55 CSCSTI 37.01 Russian Classification of Professions by Education 05.00.00 Russian Library and Bibliographic Classification 26 Russian Trade and Bibliographic Classification 63 BISAC SCI UDC 550.34 UDC 550.383 CSCSTI 37.15 CSCSTI 37.25 CSCSTI 37.31 CSCSTI 38.01 CSCSTI 36.00 CSCSTI 37.00 CSCSTI 38.00 CSCSTI 39.00 CSCSTI 52.00

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EDDIES IN OPEN OCEAN AND MARGINAL ICE ZONE USING SWOT AND SENTINEL-1 DATA Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data

АА Аа

Published in Russian Journal of Earth Sciences · Volume 26, Issue 1 · ELocator: ES1003 · Rubric: ORIGINAL ARTICLES

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2205/2026es001081 · EDN: ASSZDJ

Received: 22.04.2025 Accepted: 04.11.2025 Published: 20.02.2026 Language of publication: en-US

Authors

Nikita Sandalyuk

ORCID

Eduard M. Khachatrian

ORCID

Nikita Sandalyuk

The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg State University Russian Federation

ORCID

Eduard M. Khachatrian

UiT The Arctic University of Norway Norway

GEOFEM Cyprus

ORCID

ABSTRACT

The new Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, featuring unprecedented resolution and precision, represents a new era in satellite altimetry and exploration of ocean eddy dynamics. This paper provides a specific test case for the inter-comparison of eddy fields in the open ocean and the Marginal Ice Zone in the Fram Strait, utilizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and a complementary Level 3 product from the SWOT altimetry mission. We identified and matched 7 occurrences of open ocean eddies from both data sources. A crucial and anticipated finding is that the SSHA fields demonstrate clear capability in resolving small (up to 10 km) submesoscale eddies. The comparison of the SAR and backscattering coefficient from the SWOT unsmoothed fields for the Marginal Ice Zone region revealed a generally good agreement between both data types and can be used by the researchers as complementary data sources.

KEYWORDS

SWOT, Sentinel-1, SAR, submesoscale-mesoscale eddies, Fram Strait

Funding

This research was funded by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology under the State Agreement No. 075-03-2026-305 dated 16.01.2026, with the support of the grant of St. Petersburg University No. 129659573, and The Arctic University of Norway (UiT). The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the SWOT GitHub community for providing comprehensive tutorials on the processing of the SWOT data and to all members of the SWOT project. Sentinel-1 SAR data used in this study are publicly available on the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/). The SWOT L2/L3 beta products are publicly available on the AVISO website (https://www. aviso.altimetry.fr). The L4 product from the merged altimetry missions containing ADT fields is publicly available at the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service portal (https://marine.copernicus.eu/).

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GOST

Sandalyuk N. V., Khachatrian E. M. Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data // Russian Journal of Earth Sciences. 2025. no. 1. ES1003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2205/2026es001081. EDN: ASSZDJ. (Date of access 11.11.2026).

MLA

Nikita Sandalyuk, Khachatrian E. M.. "Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data." Russian Journal of Earth Sciences 26.1 (2025): ES1003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2205/2026es001081. EDN: ASSZDJ.

APA

Sandalyuk N. V., Khachatrian E. M. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data. Russian Journal of Earth Sciences, 26(1), ES1003. https://doi.org/10.2205/2026es001081 EDN: ASSZDJ.

Chicago

Nikita Sandalyuk, Khachatrian E. M.. "Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data." Russian Journal of Earth Sciences 26, no. 1 (2025): ES1003. https://doi.org/10.2205/2026es001081. EDN: ASSZDJ.

WIKI

{{cite journal | author = Sandalyuk N. V., Khachatrian E. M. | title = Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data | journal = Russian Journal of Earth Sciences | year = 2025 | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | pages = ES1003 | doi = 10.2205/2026es001081 }} EDN: ASSZDJ

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EDDIES IN OPEN OCEAN AND MARGINAL ICE ZONE USING SWOT AND SENTINEL-1 DATA Comparative Analysis of Eddies in Open Ocean and Marginal Ice Zone Using SWOT and Sentinel-1 Data

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