Authors: Nicolas Barrier AnneMarie Treguier Christophe Cassou Julie Deshayes
Publish Date: 2012/11/13
Volume: 41, Issue: 5-6, Pages: 1159-1171
Abstract
Interannual variability of subtropical seasurfaceheight SSH anomalies estimated by satellite and tidegauge data is investigated in relation to wintertime daily NorthAtlantic weather regimes Sealevel anomalies can be viewed as proxies for the subtropical gyre intensity because of the intrinsic baroclinic structure of the circulation Our results show that the strongest correlation between SSH and weather regimes is found with the socalled AtlanticRidge AR while no significant values are obtained for the other regimes including those related to the North Atlantic Oscillation NAO known as the primary actor of the Atlantic dynamics Wintertime AR events are characterized by anticyclonic wind anomalies off Europe leading to a northward shift of the climatological windstress curl The latter affects subtropical SSH annual variability by altered Sverdrup balance and ocean Rossby wave dynamics propagating westward from the African coast towards the Caribbean The use of a simple linear planetary geostrophic model allows to quantify those effects and confirms the primary importance of the winter season to explain the largest part of SSH interannual variability in the Atlantic subtropical gyre Our results open new perspectives in the comprehension of NorthAtlantic Ocean variability emphasizing the role of AR as a driver of interannual variability at least of comparable importance to NAONCEP Reanalysis data were provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD Boulder Colorado USA from their Web site http//wwwesrlnoaagov/psd/ The altimeter products were produced by Ssalto/Duacs and distributed by Aviso with support from Cnes http//wwwavisooceanobscom/duacs/ Tide gauge data were obtained from the Permanent Service For Mean Sea Level website http//wwwpsmslorg/ The authors acknowledge Cécile Cabanes for having provided us the matlab routines of the baroclinic component of her model and for fruitful discussions Nicolas Barrier is supported by a PhD grant from Unniversité de Bretagne Occidentale Ifremer and Europôle Mer AnneMarie Treguier Christophe Cassou and Julie Deshayes acknowledge the CNRS
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