Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors
Knowledge of the ocean dynamic topography, defined as the height of the sea surface above its rest-state (the geoid), would allow oceanographers to study the absolute circulation of the ocean and determine the associated geostrophic surface currents that help to regulate the Earth's climate. He...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2006
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 |
id |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 2024-06-02T08:11:26+00:00 Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors Bingham, Rory J Haines, Keith 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 364, issue 1841, page 903-916 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 journal-article 2006 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 2024-05-07T14:16:18Z Knowledge of the ocean dynamic topography, defined as the height of the sea surface above its rest-state (the geoid), would allow oceanographers to study the absolute circulation of the ocean and determine the associated geostrophic surface currents that help to regulate the Earth's climate. Here a novel approach to computing a mean dynamic topography (MDT), together with an error field, is presented for the northern North Atlantic. The method uses an ensemble of MDTs, each of which has been produced by the assimilation of hydrographic data into a numerical ocean model, to form a composite MDT, and uses the spread within the ensemble as a measure of the error on this MDT. The r.m.s. error for the composite MDT is 3.2 cm, and for the associated geostrophic currents the r.m.s. error is 2.5 cm s −1 . Taylor diagrams are used to compare the composite MDT with several MDTs produced by a variety of alternative methods. Of these, the composite MDT is found to agree remarkably well with an MDT based on the GRACE geoid GGM01C. It is shown how the composite MDT and its error field are useful validation products against which other MDTs and their error fields can be compared. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 364 1841 903 916 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Knowledge of the ocean dynamic topography, defined as the height of the sea surface above its rest-state (the geoid), would allow oceanographers to study the absolute circulation of the ocean and determine the associated geostrophic surface currents that help to regulate the Earth's climate. Here a novel approach to computing a mean dynamic topography (MDT), together with an error field, is presented for the northern North Atlantic. The method uses an ensemble of MDTs, each of which has been produced by the assimilation of hydrographic data into a numerical ocean model, to form a composite MDT, and uses the spread within the ensemble as a measure of the error on this MDT. The r.m.s. error for the composite MDT is 3.2 cm, and for the associated geostrophic currents the r.m.s. error is 2.5 cm s −1 . Taylor diagrams are used to compare the composite MDT with several MDTs produced by a variety of alternative methods. Of these, the composite MDT is found to agree remarkably well with an MDT based on the GRACE geoid GGM01C. It is shown how the composite MDT and its error field are useful validation products against which other MDTs and their error fields can be compared. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bingham, Rory J Haines, Keith |
spellingShingle |
Bingham, Rory J Haines, Keith Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
author_facet |
Bingham, Rory J Haines, Keith |
author_sort |
Bingham, Rory J |
title |
Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
title_short |
Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
title_full |
Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
title_fullStr |
Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
title_sort |
mean dynamic topography: intercomparisons and errors |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 364, issue 1841, page 903-916 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1745 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
container_volume |
364 |
container_issue |
1841 |
container_start_page |
903 |
op_container_end_page |
916 |
_version_ |
1800757576471674880 |