HR: 0800h
AN: U21C-0618    [Abstracts]
TI: Seasonal and Interannual Variability of the Red Sea
AU: * Wahr, J
EM: wahr@lemond.colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado, Department of Physics and CIRES, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Smeed, D
EM: das@noc.soton.ac.uk
AF: National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, United Kingdom
AU: Shaltout, M
EM: mosalamshaltout@hotmail.com
AF: Minufiya University, and National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo, 1, Egypt
AU: Leuliette, E
EM: Eric.Leuliette@noaa.gov
AF: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, Silver Spring, MD 20910, United States
AU: Swenson, S
EM: swensosc@sunray3.cgd.ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Advanced Study Program, Boulder, CO 80307, United States
AU: Urban, T
EM: urban@csr.utexas.edu
AF: University of Texas, Center for Space Research, Austin, TX 78759, United States
AU: Velicogna, I
EM: isabella@giove.colorado.edu
AF: University of California at Irvine, Department of earth System Science, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
AB: The Red Sea is almost completely enclosed. It can exchange water with the open ocean only through the strait of Bab el Mandab that opens into the Gulf of Aden to the south. The seasonal exchange of water through that strait occurs through a multi-layer flow pattern that tends to make the Red Sea colder and saltier, and thus more dense, during the summer; and warmer and fresher, and so less dense, during the winter. These density changes presumably cause seasonal steric variations in sea surface height. Here, we isolate and interpret this steric signal by combining sea surface height observations from satellite altimetery (JASON-1 and ENVISAT radar altimetry; and ICESat laser altimetry) and tide gauge data, with estimates of Red Sea mass variability from GRACE. The results are compared with surface temperature observations from Aqua to separate the effects of surface heating from those of the exchange through the Bab el Mandab.
DE: 1217 Time variable gravity (7223, 7230)
DE: 1222 Ocean monitoring with geodetic techniques (1225, 1641, 3010, 4532, 4556, 4560, 6959)
DE: 4227 Diurnal, seasonal, and annual cycles (0438)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting