• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean from altimetry and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment geoid

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    2005JC003128.pdf (2.373Mb)
    Date
    2006-03-04
    Author
    Jayne, Steven R.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3609
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JC003128
    DOI
    10.1029/2005JC003128
    Keyword
     Ocean circulation; Geoid; Altimetry index 
    Abstract
    We discuss the ocean circulation derived from the temporally averaged sea surface height, which is referenced to the recently released geoid from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission (GRACE Gravity Model 02 (GGM02)). The creation of a precise, independent geoid allows for the calculation of the reference gravitational potential undulation surface, which is associated with the resting ocean surface height. This reference height is then removed from the temporally averaged sea surface height, leaving the dynamic ocean topography. At its most basic level the dynamic ocean topography can be related to the ocean's surface circulation through geostrophy. This has previously been impracticable because of large uncertainties in previous estimates of the Earth's geoid. Prior geoids included the temporally averaged sea surface from altimeters as a proxy for the geoid and therefore were unsuitable for calculations of the ocean's circulation. Geoid undulations are calculated from the GRACE geoid and compared to those from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and National Imagery and Mapping Agency Joint Earth Geopotential Model (EGM96) geoid. Error estimates are made to assess the accuracy of the new geoid. The deep ocean pressure field is also estimated by combining the calculated dynamic ocean topography with hydrography. Finally, the derived circulation is compared to independent observations of the circulation from sea surface drifters and subsurface floats. It is shown that the GGM02 geoid is significantly more accurate for use in estimating the ocean's circulation.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 111 (2006): C03005, doi:10.1029/2005JC003128.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Geophysical Research 111 (2006): C03005
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Global observations of fine-scale ocean surface topography with the surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) mission 

      Morrow, Rosemary; Fu, Lee-Lueng; Ardhuin, Fabrice; Benkiran, Mounir; Chapron, Bertrand; Cosme, Emmanuel; d’Ovidio, Francesco; Farrar, J. Thomas; Gille, Sarah T.; Lapeyre, Guillaume; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves; Pascual, Ananda; Ponte, Aurélien (Frontiers Media, 2019-05-15)
      The future international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission, planned for launch in 2021, will make high-resolution 2D observations of sea-surface height using SAR radar interferometric techniques. SWOT will ...
    • Thumbnail

      Two modes of Gulf Stream variability revealed in the last two decades of satellite altimeter data 

      Perez-Hernandez, M. Dolores; Joyce, Terrence M. (American Meteorological Society, 2014-01)
      Monthly mapped sea level anomalies (MSLAs) of the NW Atlantic in the region immediately downstream of the Gulf Stream (GS) separation point reveal a leading mode in which the path shifts approximately 100 km meridionally ...
    • Thumbnail

      Observed mesoscale eddy signatures in Southern Ocean surface mixed-layer depth 

      Hausmann, Ute; McGillicuddy, Dennis J.; Marshall, John (John Wiley & Sons, 2017-01-27)
      Combining satellite altimetry with Argo profile data a systematic observational estimate of mesoscale eddy signatures in surface mixed-layer depth (MLD) is provided across the Southern Ocean (SO). Eddy composite MLD anomalies ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo