Premium
Near 5‐day nonisostatic response of the Atlantic Ocean to atmospheric surface pressure deduced from sub‐surface and bottom pressure measurements
Author(s) -
Park JaeHun,
Watts D. Randolph
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 - 10.1029/2006gl026304
Subject(s) - rossby wave , climatology , barotropic fluid , extratropical cyclone , geology , surface pressure , atlantic hurricane , atmospheric pressure , sea surface temperature , forcing (mathematics) , oceanic basin , atmospheric model , ocean surface topography , latitude , oceanography , structural basin , tropical cyclone , paleontology , geodesy
Nonisostatic ocean responses to atmospheric pressure have been observed in tropical regions of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans at periods near 5 days. Barotropic ocean model simulations coupled to atmospheric forcing predicted that this nonisostatic ocean response is driven not regionally but globally by the Rossby‐Haurwitz wave. To date little observational evidence has been provided to support the model simulations, especially at extratropical latitudes. Here we present the basin‐scale nature of the nonisostatic response in the Atlantic Ocean near 5‐day periods using four historical long‐term (≥1.5 year) sub‐surface and bottom pressure measurements spanning from 16°S to 37°N. Joint analysis of them together with global‐gridded atmospheric pressure reveals a basin‐scale nonisostatic sea level fluctuation in the North and tropical Atlantic Oceans near 5‐day periods with almost uniform phase. It also confirms that the driving force for this near 5‐day fluctuation is the westward propagating Rossby‐Haurwitz wave.