Observed variability of the South Pacific westward sea level anomaly signal in the presence of bottom topography

Angela M. Maharaj*, Paolo Cipollini, Neil J. Holbrook

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume32
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Feb 2005

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Observed variability of the South Pacific westward sea level anomaly signal in the presence of bottom topography'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this