HR: 1340h
AN: OS13A-1009    [Abstracts]
TI: Frequency and zonal wavenumber spectra of altimetric sea level in the North Pacific as revealed by 9 years of TOPEX data
AU: * Tai, C
EM: ck.tai@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA, NOAA/NESDIS/ORA E/RA3 5200 Auth Rd, Camp Springs, MD 20746, United States
AB: These two-dimensional spectra show the prevalence of free baroclinic Rossby waves from the equatorial region to the mid-latitudes. An innovation based on segregating the Fourier components into standing and propagating modes has helped reveal the Rossby waves more clearly where they have been obscured previously by the seal- level signatures of the seasonal heating and cooling cycle. It is found that the linear theory of Rossby waves applies well for most of the ocean (i.e., ignoring zonal and meridional density variations associated with the mean flow) with the possible exception in regions closer to the western boundary currents. That is, the Rossby wave speed is more or less uniform zonally across the North Pacific except closer to the western end in mid- latitudes. From the zonal and meridional distribution of the power of these Rossby waves, the source of these waves can be deciphered.
DE: 4500 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL
DE: 4554 Planetary waves
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting