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A Record-High Ocean Bottom Pressure in the South Pacific Observed by GRACEIn late 2009 to early 2010, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite pair observed a record increase in ocean bottom pressure (OBP) over a large mid-latitude region of the South East Pacific. Its magnitude is substantially larger than other oceanic events in the Southern Hemisphere found in the entire GRACE data records (2003-2010) on multi-month time scales. The OBP data help to understand the nature of a similar signal in sea surface height (SSH) anomaly observed by altimetry: the SSH increase is mainly due to mass convergence. Analysis of the barotropic vorticity equation using scatterometer data, atmospheric reanalysis product, and GRACE and altimeter an atmospheric reanalysis product observations suggests that the observed OBP/SSH signal was primarily caused by wind stress curl associated with a strong and persistent anticyclone in late 2009 in combination with effects of planetary vorticity gradient, bottom topography, and friction
Document ID
20120013537
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Boening, Carmen
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lee, Tong
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Zlotnicki, Victor
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
February 17, 2011
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Volume: 38
Subject Category
Oceanography
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
South Pacific
ocean bottom pressure

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