I am working with a regional model system with IS4DVAR data assimilation. At the present moment, we are assimilating along-track SLA from the Jason-1, Jason-2 and envisat satellites. But, since the model domain is not very large, I get one satellite track every 2-3 days. This leads to a very limited impact of the SLA assimilation on the resulting analysis. We are thinking of testing the assimilation of the AVISO gridded product instead of the along-track data.
Can you tell me what your experiences are and/or direct me to references comparing the 2 assimilations for a case where the along-track data presents such a scarce coverage?