HR: 14:05h
AN: G13A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Observing Steric Sea Level Variations with GRACE and Satellite Altimetry
AU: * Chambers, D P
EM: chambers@csr.utexas.edu
AF: Center for Space Research, 3925 W. Braker Lane, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78759 United States
AB: Satellite altimeters observe the combination of steric and non-steric sea level variations. Theoretically, GRACE should observe only non-steric sea level variations. Thus, one should be able to combine monthly maps of SL derived from GRACE with those from altimetry in order to estimate steric sea level. This is useful for combining with steric sea level computed from direct temperature/salinity profiles, or as a measure of steric sea level where there are no direct observations. We will describe how to properly combine the two data types (altimetry and GRACE), commenting on important corrections that need to be applied to each data type. We demonstrate the accuracy of the recovered steric SL variability by comparing the results with those determined from direct temperature/salinity profiles during 2002 to 2004, where there are sufficient numbers available.
DE: 1294 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1635 Oceans (4203)
DE: 4556 Sea level variations
DE: 4594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly