A simple statistic is derived for quantifying the potential for the aliasing of tidal errors in a given linear estimate of sea surface height constructed from altimeter data. The existence of M2 tidal constituent errors in Geosat data processed in the traditional way (i.e., with orbit errors removed using least...
Alias periods and wavelengths for the M2, S2, N2, K1, O1, and P1 tidal constituents are calculated for TOPEX/POSEIDON. Alias wavelengths calculated in previous studies are shown to be in error, and a correct method is presented. With the exception of the K1 constituent, all of these tidal aliases for...
Westward propagating Gaussian eddies with statistical characteristics estimated from altimeter observations but with purely random starting locations and times produce striated features in time-averaged maps of zonal velocity. The striations in these simulations have magnitudes and meridional scales comparable to those reported from time-averaged altimeter observations and model output in...
Wind stress variability over the Benguela upwelling system is considered using 16 months (01 August 1999 to 29 November 2000) of satellite-derived QuikSCAT wind data. Variability is investigated using a type of artificial neural network, the self-organizing map (SOM), and a wavelet analysis. The SOM and wavelet analysis are applied...
The wind speed and significant wave height (H1/3) dependencies of the sea state is in altimeter estimates of sea level, expressed in the form ∆hSSB=bH1/3, are examined from least squares analysis of 21 cycles of collinear TOPEX data. The bias coefficient b is found to increase in magnitude with increasing...
Ten years of sea-surface height (SSH) fields constructed from the merged TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) and ERS-1/2 altimeter datasets are analyzed to investigate mesoscale variability in the global ocean. The higher resolution of the merged dataset reveals that more than 50% of the variability over much of the World Ocean is accounted...
Satellite measurements of sea-surface temperature (SST) by the TRMM Microwave Imager reveal previously unreported features of tropical instability waves (TIWs). In the Pacific, TIW-related variability is observed from the eastern boundary to at least 160°E. Cusp-shaped distortions of SST fronts and associated trains of anticyclonic vortices both north and south...
A formalism is presented for quantifying the sampling error of an arbitrary linear estimate of a time-averaged quantity constructed from a time series of irregularly spaced observations at a fixed location. The method is applicable to any irregularly sampled time series; it is applied here to satellite observations of chlorophyll...
The objective of this article is to present evidence for
the existence of seasonal variability in sea surface height
(SSH) anomaly in the Agulhas Retroflection region.
TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data are used to estimate
seasonal changes in the mesoscale SSH variability.
There is a seasonal oscillation of SSH variability characterized
by...