Diffusion-based smoothers for spatial filtering of gridded geophysical data

The new method is analogous to smoothing via diffusion, and its implementation requires only a discrete Laplacian operator appropriate to the data. The new method can approximate arbitrary filter shapes, including Gaussian filters, and can be extended to spatially varying and anisotropic filters.

The new diffusion-based smoother's properties are illustrated with examples from ocean model data and ocean observational products. An open-source Python package implementing this algorithm, called gcm-filters, is currently under development.