Sea surface height determination in the Arctic Ocean from ERS altimetry

• Main Authors: Peacock, NR, Laxon, SW
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION 2004
• Subjects: Arctic; ocean; satellite; altimetry; ERS; SOUTHERN CANADIAN BASIN; SATELLITE ALTIMETRY; GEOSAT ALTIMETER; RADAR-ALTIMETER; GRAVITY-FIELD; MESOSCALE VARIABILITY; ACCURACY ASSESSMENT; PROCESSING SCHEME; ICE; TOPEX/POSEIDON; Arctic Ocean; Canada; Greenland; canada basin; Iceland; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/154913/

[1] Accurate sea surface height measurements have been extracted from ERS altimeter data in sea ice - covered regions for the first time. The data have been used to construct a mean sea surface of the Arctic Ocean between the latitudes of 60 degreesN and 81.5 degreesN based on 4 years of ERS-2 data. An RMS value for the crossover differences of mean sea surface profiles of 4.2 cm was observed in the ice-covered Canada Basin, compared with 3.8 cm in the ice-free Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian Seas. Comparisons are made with an existing global mean sea surface (OSUMSS95), highlighting significant differences between the two surfaces in permanently ice-covered seas. In addition, we present the first altimeter-derived sea surface height variability map of the Arctic Ocean. Comparisons with a high-resolution coupled ocean - sea ice general circulation model reveal a good qualitative agreement in the spatial distribution of variability. Quantitatively, we found that the observed variability was on average a factor of 3 - 4 greater than model predictions.