Altimeter estimates of anomalous transports into the northern California Current during 2000–2002

Surface transports into the California Current are calculated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter surface height slopes during the 9.5 year period from October 1992–May 2002. These quantify the anomalous onshore and southward displacements of the water column during the 2000–2002 period, which had been hy...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Strub, P. Ted, James, Corinne
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
unknown
Published: American Geophysical Union
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/0k225c59g
Description
Summary:Surface transports into the California Current are calculated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter surface height slopes during the 9.5 year period from October 1992–May 2002. These quantify the anomalous onshore and southward displacements of the water column during the 2000–2002 period, which had been hypothesized by others based on anomalous water properties observed in mid-2002 off Oregon. Anomalous eastward transport into the boundary between 52º–54ºN occurred first (mid-2000 to mid-2001) followed by eastward transport into the boundary between 50º–52ºN in 2001. Equatorward transports during 2001 and 2002 resulted in approximately 800 km of anomalous southward displacements during the 1.5 years prior to the anomalous observations off Oregon. This sequence suggests that both onshore and southward displacement anomalies off British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest contributed to the subarctic characteristics of the water observed off Oregon. Keywords: Currents, Upwelling and convergences, Climate and interannual variability, Eastern boundary currents, Water masses