Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Satellite altimeter data collected by the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission were used to investigate turbulent stress resulting from the variability of surface geostrophic currents in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The altimeter measured sea level along the subsatellite track. The variability of the a...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:19920064803 2023-05-15T14:03:21+02:00 Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Johnson, Thomas J. Stewart, Robert H. Shum, C. K. Tapley, Byron D. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available Jun 19, 1992 http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19920064803 unknown http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19920064803 Accession ID: 92A47427 Copyright Other Sources 48 Geophysical Research Letters; 19; 12, J 1992 ftnasantrs 2012-02-15T19:36:57Z Satellite altimeter data collected by the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission were used to investigate turbulent stress resulting from the variability of surface geostrophic currents in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The altimeter measured sea level along the subsatellite track. The variability of the along-track slope of sea level is directly proportional to the variability of surface geostrophic currents in the cross-track direction. Because the grid of crossover points is dense at high latitudes, the satellite data could be used for mapping the temporal and spatial variability of the current. Two and a half years of data were used to compute the statistical structure of the variability. The statistics included the probability distribution functions for each component of the current, the time-lagged autocorrelation functions of the variability, and the Reynolds stress produced by the variability. The results demonstrate that stress is correlated with bathymetry. In some areas the distribution of negative stress indicate that eddies contribute to an acceleration of the mean flow, strengthening the hypothesis that baroclinic instability makes important contributions to strong oceanic currents. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Antarctic The Antarctic |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
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ftnasantrs |
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unknown |
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48 |
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48 Johnson, Thomas J. Stewart, Robert H. Shum, C. K. Tapley, Byron D. Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
topic_facet |
48 |
description |
Satellite altimeter data collected by the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission were used to investigate turbulent stress resulting from the variability of surface geostrophic currents in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The altimeter measured sea level along the subsatellite track. The variability of the along-track slope of sea level is directly proportional to the variability of surface geostrophic currents in the cross-track direction. Because the grid of crossover points is dense at high latitudes, the satellite data could be used for mapping the temporal and spatial variability of the current. Two and a half years of data were used to compute the statistical structure of the variability. The statistics included the probability distribution functions for each component of the current, the time-lagged autocorrelation functions of the variability, and the Reynolds stress produced by the variability. The results demonstrate that stress is correlated with bathymetry. In some areas the distribution of negative stress indicate that eddies contribute to an acceleration of the mean flow, strengthening the hypothesis that baroclinic instability makes important contributions to strong oceanic currents. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Johnson, Thomas J. Stewart, Robert H. Shum, C. K. Tapley, Byron D. |
author_facet |
Johnson, Thomas J. Stewart, Robert H. Shum, C. K. Tapley, Byron D. |
author_sort |
Johnson, Thomas J. |
title |
Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
title_short |
Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
title_full |
Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of Reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current |
title_sort |
distribution of reynolds stress carried by mesoscale variability in the antarctic circumpolar current |
publishDate |
1992 |
url |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19920064803 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Other Sources |
op_relation |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19920064803 Accession ID: 92A47427 |
op_rights |
Copyright |
_version_ |
1766273982860886016 |