Extraction of the M2 ocean tide from SEASAT altimeter data |
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| Authors: | P L Woodworth D E Cartwright |
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| Institution: | Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Bidston Observatory, Birkenhead, Merseyside L43 7RA |
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| Abstract: | Summary. Three complementary methods for the extraction of the M2 ocean tide using SEASAT altimetry are presented and compared. The first method (that developed by Cartwright & Alcock), which provides 'point measurements'of the tide at the crossovers of the SEASAT repeat orbit ground track, has been applied to a study of the tide in tropical ocean areas. The other two methods involve spatial expansions of M2 in terms of either surface spherical harmonics (in the case of the method developed by Mazzega) or Platzman normal modes of the world ocean. The results obtained by each method from only one month of SEASAT data reproduce many features of the tide represented in recent tidal models, and promise well for satellite altimetry as a future source of tidal knowledge. |
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| Keywords: | ocean tides oceanic normal modes satellite altimetry SEASAT |
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