Annual Variability of Sea Surface Height and Upper Layer Thickness in the Pacific Ocean |
| |
| Authors: | Yoshinobu Wakata Shouko Kitaya |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan;(2) Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan |
| |
| Abstract: | The annual variabilities of the sea surface height in the Pacific Ocean were investigated by analyzing the TOPEX/POSEIDON
satellite data and by solving a reduced gravity model. We discuss how adequately the simple model can capture the variabilities
of the sea surface height, and what the cause of the variabilities is. Three large amplitude peaks in the satellite data are
found along the 12°N longitude line. Two elongated zones with a large amplitude are also found: one extends east-west along
6°N and the other extends northwestward from South America around 25°S. These features are adequately reproduced in the numerical
simulation of the reduced gravity model. The propagation of the Rossby wave is analyzed by the use of the extended Eliassen-Palm
flux to investigate the mechanism of these annual variabilities. The two east peaks around 12°N can be explained in terms
of the interference between the local Ekman pumping and the free wave emitted near the western coast of North America, and
the most western peak is affected by the Rossby wave formed by the local wind stress. The elongated zonal area around 6°N
is mainly due to the local Ekman pumping. Another area around 25°S results from the convergence of the free Rossby wave emitted
from the eastern boundary and the area with the strong wind stress curl off South America. A discrepancy between the satellite
data and the model results suggests that the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean is relatively calm in the model but not in the
satellite data.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
| |
| Keywords: | Sea surface height Rossby wave reduced-gravity model Pacific Ocean TOPEX/POSEIDON |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
