Scale-dependent ocean vertical correlations in the California Current System

We present observation and model estimates of temperature and salinity depth-depth cross-correlations in two different horizontal scale regimes. Glider data from the 2021 S-MODE pilot campaign were assimilated into an ocean simulation using a three dimensional variational algorithm. We map the glider time series into distance allowing a Fourier analysis of model errors in wavenumber space. Power spectra indicate model error variance is less than the observed variance at scales larger than approximately 250 km. Based on this result, a Gaussian filter partitions the glider and model data into larger and smaller scale series at each depth. The larger and smaller scale temperature and salinity cross-correlations between depths are compared and contrasted. Glider and model cross-correlations are found to be similar, implying that the model physics at scales not constrained by the observations are similar to the true world.