A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry
Altimeter data obtained from GEOS-3 during the three year period 1975-78 for a region of the western North Atlantic which includes a portion of the Gulf Stream system and part of the open ocean area of the subtropical gyre are analyzed by a new technique which utilizes all the points along the satel...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:19840058259 2023-05-15T17:33:22+02:00 A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry Robinson, A. R. Huang, N. E. Leitao, C. D. Parra, C. G. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available Apr 1, 1984 http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840058259 unknown http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840058259 Accession ID: 84A41046 Copyright Other Sources 48 Journal of Physical Oceanography; 13; 565-585 1984 ftnasantrs 2012-02-15T15:55:03Z Altimeter data obtained from GEOS-3 during the three year period 1975-78 for a region of the western North Atlantic which includes a portion of the Gulf Stream system and part of the open ocean area of the subtropical gyre are analyzed by a new technique which utilizes all the points along the satellite tracks. The physical phenomenon studied are the time-variable but almost geostrophic currents, or mesoscale eddies, so that geoid errors contaminate the scientific signal minimally and the dynamical interpretation is direct. Results presented include the spatial distribution of geostrophic eddy kinetic energy and examples of a synoptic map of the eddy field (April 1977) and of a time series at a point. These results are compared to and synthesized with a diverse and select set of existing measurements and observations obtained in situ by a variety of instrumental techniques. The agreement is generally good, and the altimeter data analyzed provides new information on features in the map of mean eddy kinetic energy. The implications are that satellite altimetry will serve as a powerful quantitative tool in eddy current research and that even presently archived data contains further useful scientific information. Other/Unknown Material North Atlantic NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
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48 |
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48 Robinson, A. R. Huang, N. E. Leitao, C. D. Parra, C. G. A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
topic_facet |
48 |
description |
Altimeter data obtained from GEOS-3 during the three year period 1975-78 for a region of the western North Atlantic which includes a portion of the Gulf Stream system and part of the open ocean area of the subtropical gyre are analyzed by a new technique which utilizes all the points along the satellite tracks. The physical phenomenon studied are the time-variable but almost geostrophic currents, or mesoscale eddies, so that geoid errors contaminate the scientific signal minimally and the dynamical interpretation is direct. Results presented include the spatial distribution of geostrophic eddy kinetic energy and examples of a synoptic map of the eddy field (April 1977) and of a time series at a point. These results are compared to and synthesized with a diverse and select set of existing measurements and observations obtained in situ by a variety of instrumental techniques. The agreement is generally good, and the altimeter data analyzed provides new information on features in the map of mean eddy kinetic energy. The implications are that satellite altimetry will serve as a powerful quantitative tool in eddy current research and that even presently archived data contains further useful scientific information. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Robinson, A. R. Huang, N. E. Leitao, C. D. Parra, C. G. |
author_facet |
Robinson, A. R. Huang, N. E. Leitao, C. D. Parra, C. G. |
author_sort |
Robinson, A. R. |
title |
A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
title_short |
A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
title_full |
A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
title_fullStr |
A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
title_full_unstemmed |
A study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern Atlantic using satellite altimetry |
title_sort |
study of the variability of ocean currents in the northwestern atlantic using satellite altimetry |
publishDate |
1984 |
url |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840058259 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Other Sources |
op_relation |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840058259 Accession ID: 84A41046 |
op_rights |
Copyright |
_version_ |
1766131849319415808 |