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Observed variability of the South Pacific westward sea level anomaly signal in the presence of bottom topography
Author(s) -
Maharaj Angela M.,
Cipollini Paolo,
Holbrook Neil J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl020966
Subject(s) - rossby wave , geology , bathymetry , altimeter , sea surface height , climatology , plateau (mathematics) , seamount , zonal and meridional , oceanography , geophysics , geodesy , mathematical analysis , mathematics
This study investigates the behavior of westward propagating sea level anomalies across the South Pacific Ocean, with a focus on the long Rossby wave signal determined from filtered TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS satellite altimeter data. An evaluation of the energy variability of the signal using a two‐dimensional Radon Transform analysis suggests that Rossby waves interact with both ridges and seamounts at various locations across the basin. Anomalously slow Rossby wave phase speeds are found over steep, isolated bathymetric features in the tropical South Pacific and over the plateau around New Zealand. Interaction with ridges increases the energetic variability, range of dominant propagation speeds, and meridional deviations in the Rossby wave signal.