Sea surface height observations of the 34°N 'waveguide

• Main Author: David Cromwell
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Mid-Atlantic Ridge; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.6030; http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/JRD/SAT/Rossby/Cromwell_GRL_2001.pdf

Abstract. We present a study of the energetic zonal band at 34N in the North Atlantic using a wavelet analysis of more than 8 years of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data. It is already well-established in the literature that this zonal ‘waveguide ’ is dominated by large-scale propagating fea-tures. The wavelet analysis yields sea surface height vari-ance at a range of periods and wavelengths, allowing us to observe and quantify evolution of the features in space and time. Signal variance west of the mid-Atlantic ridge at 34N is larger than to the east of the ridge: by a factor of ~2 in the period band 0.5-0.9 years, in which baroclinic Rossby waves and eddies propagate. The period of the peak energy is reduced crossing the ridge from ~1 year to ~7-9 months, before rising again to the annual cycle on the other side. There is also evidence of energy peaks at periods of ~2-4 years in the Gulf Stream region and east of the ridge. 1.