COMBINATION OF NOAA / AVHRR IMAGES AND TOPEX/POSEIDON DATA TO ANALYSE THE MESOSCALE PHENOMENA IN THE ALGERIAN BASIN

The goal of this study is to taking knowledge of the circulation of the water masses in the Western Mediterranean sea, acquired with the passing of years, starting from the observations resulting from the satellite images and in situ measurements. In order to obtain more details of surface circulation, it is interesting to introduce the satellites altimeters data, such as for example TOPEX/POSEIDON, to obtain a denser space-time taking away, day similar to night and in a clear sky or covered. The combination of two types of satellites data enabled us to observe, for the first time, the principal characteristics of circulation at the Western Mediterranean sea and, in particular, the seasonal variations. The mapping of the Sea Surface Height (S.S.H) accentuates the intensification of oceanic circulation [1], which makes it possible to detect the masked structures (by the sun-spots), or the noise introduced at the time of processing data. Our study will be focused on the Algerian basin, between 2°E and 8°E, 37°N and 39°N, for several reasons, which are: physically powerful zone of masses exchange, Algerian Current (AC) relatively permanent, intense biological activity,..