The Oceanic Variability Spectrum and Transport Trends
Name
altimetric_freq_wavenumber_rev_may_2009.pdf
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757.71 KB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9e4a6f3b957db0b1b669c0c5d9ad8322
Author(s)
Wunsch, Carl Isaac
Date Issued
October 2009
Journal
Atmosphere-Ocean
Publisher
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Citation
Wunsch, Carl. "The Oceanic Variability Spectrum and Transport Trends." Atmosphere-Ocean 47 (4) 2009, 281–291
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Oceanic meridional transports evaluated over the width of the Pacific Ocean from altimetric observations become incoherent surprisingly rapidly with meridional separation. Even
with 15 years of data, surface slopes show no significant coherence beyond 5◦ of latitude separation at any frequency. An analysis of the frequency/zonal-wavenumber spectral density
shows a broad continuum of motions at all time and space scales, with a significant excess of energy along a “non-dispersive” line extending between the simple barotropic and first baroclinic mode Rossby waves. It is speculated that much of that excess energy lies with coupled barotropic and first mode Rossby waves. The statistical significance of apparent oceanic transport trends depends upon the existence of a reliable frequency/wavenumber spectrum and for which only a few observational elements now exist.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3137/OC310.2009
