Temporal Variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Observed from Satellite Altimetry

Sea level measurements by the Seasat altimeter were used to study the temporal variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current between July and October 1978. Large-scale zonal coherence in the cross-stream sea level difference was observed, indicating a general increase in the surface geostrophic v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Fu, Lee-Lueng, Chelton, Dudley B.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1984
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.226.4672.343
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.226.4672.343
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Summary:Sea level measurements by the Seasat altimeter were used to study the temporal variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current between July and October 1978. Large-scale zonal coherence in the cross-stream sea level difference was observed, indicating a general increase in the surface geostrophic velocity of the current around the Southern Ocean. The result demonstrates the power of satellite altimetry to monitor the variability of large-scale ocean currents.