Surface transports into the California Current are calculated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter surface height slopes during the 9.5 year period from October 1992–May 2002. These quantify the anomalous onshore and southward displacements of the water column during the 2000–2002 period, which had been hypothesized by others based on anomalous water properties...
Data from Geosat and TOPEX altimeters are used to infer the structure of the Peru-Chile Countercurrent, a jet that flows from at least as far north as 10ºS (historical data suggests 7ºS) to 35º–40ºS, maintaining its position between approximately 100–300 km offshore. Although the annual mean current cannot be determined...
Altimeter sea surface height (SSH) fields are analyzed to define and discuss the seasonal circulation over the wide continental shelf in the SW Atlantic Ocean (27°–43°S) during 2001–2012. Seasonal variability is low south of the Rio de la Plata (RdlP), where winds and currents remain equatorward for most of the...
In this paper, we evaluate the temporal and horizontal resolution of geostrophic
surface velocities calculated from TOPEX satellite altimeter heights. Moored velocities
(from vector-averaging current meters and an acoustic Doppler current profiler) at depths
below the Ekman layer are used to estimate the temporal evolution and accuracy of
altimeter geostrophic...
We examine large-scale atmospheric behavior around the time of the spring and fall transitions in the coastal ocean off the west coast of North America. Records of adjusted sea level (ASL), coastal wind stress, sea level atmospheric pressure (SLP), and 500-mbar heights for the years 1971-1975 and 1980-1983 are analyzed....
Satellite-derived sea surface salinity (SSS) data from Aquarius and SMOS are used to study the
shelf-open ocean exchanges in the western South Atlantic near 35°S. Away from the tropics, these
exchanges cause the largest SSS variability throughout the South Atlantic. The data reveal a well-defined
seasonal pattern of SSS during...
Satellite-derived sea surface salinity (SSS) data from Aquarius and SMOS are used to study the
shelf-open ocean exchanges in the western South Atlantic near 35°S. Away from the tropics, these
exchanges cause the largest SSS variability throughout the South Atlantic. The data reveal a well-defined
seasonal pattern of SSS during...
Concurrent satellite-measured chlorophyll (CHL), sea surface temperature (SST), sea level anomaly (SLA) and model-derived wind vectors from the 13+ year SeaWiFS period September 1997 – December 2010 quantify time and space patterns of phytoplankton variability and its links to physical forcing in the Pacific Ocean. The CHL fields are a...
Satellite-derived data provide the temporal means and seasonal and nonseasonal
variability of four physical and biological parameters off Oregon and Washington
(41°–48.5°N). Eight years of data (1998–2005) are available for surface chlorophyll
concentrations, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height, while six years of
data (2000–2005) are available for...
Satellite-derived pigment concentrations from the west coast time series (WCTS) are averaged into monthly mean fields over the California Current system (CCS) for the period July 1979 to June 1986. Errors caused by the scattering algorithm used in the WCTS are reduced by an empirical correction function, although winter values...