The earth's gravity field and ocean dynamics

An analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio of the best gravity field available shows that a basis exists for the recovery of the dominant parameters of the quasi-stationary sea surface topography. Results obtained from the analysis of GEOS-3 show that it is feasible to recover the quasi-stationary dynamic sea surface topography as a function of wavelength. The gravity field models required for synoptic ocean circulation modeling are less exacting in that constituents affecting radial components of orbital position need not be known through shorter wavelengths.