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Influence of the tropics on the climate of the South Atlantic
Author(s) -
Grodsky Semyon A.,
Carton James A.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2005gl025153
Subject(s) - subtropics , climatology , mesoscale meteorology , geology , sea level , eddy , sea surface temperature , oceanography , tropical atlantic , tropics , structural basin , sea surface height , geography , meteorology , turbulence , fishery , biology , paleontology
The climate of the tropical Atlantic is shown to undergo slow basinwide changes with time‐scales of five years that include changes in surface winds, SST, and sea level. Further south in the Agulhas eddy corridor 35°S–25°S there are sea level fluctuations (superimposed on the dominant mesoscale eddies) on a similar timescale with amplitudes of 10 cm and with westward phase propagation of 4 cm s −1 , giving rise to phase variations between the western and eastern sides of the basin. In the eastern basin sea level anomalies are accompanied by 0.5°C SST variations, while in the west the relationship is more complex. Here we explore the possibility that these subtropical sea level fluctuations are produced by the poleward propagation of the tropical sea level anomalies.