Observing the four dimensional structure and variability of the Southern Ocean using satellite altimetry ...

• Main Author: Meijers, AJS
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23230781.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Observing_the_four_dimensional_structure_and_variability_of_the_Southern_Ocean_using_satellite_altimetry/23230781/1

We present a gravest empirical mode (GEM) projection, of temperature and salinity fields in the Southern Ocean that, combined with satellite altimetry, produces time evolving temperature, salinity and velocity fields, and use these to observe the mean and synoptically varying properties of the Southern Ocean from 1992-2006. Historical hydrography from 1920-2006 is used to produce GEM projections of the circumpolar temperature and‚ salinity fields in longitude/dynamic height space between 25-5400 dbar. Combining these fields with altimefric SSH creates synoptic temperature and salinity fields (satGEM fields) at seven-day time intervals on a 1/3¬∞ grid. The satGEM fields resolve front and eddy features significantly more accurately than climatologies and can reproduce the time evolution of the T-S fields. These are used to create baroclinic velocities that produce realistic ACC volume transports and correlate well with ARGO velocities (u and v coefficients of 0.60 and 0.53). Although these fields ...