Abstract
A combination of careful harmonic analysis and high-resolution numerical modelling of tides in altimeter data from TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 satellites allows detailed calculation of seasonal and interannual variability of sea level in coastal areas of the north-east Pacific Ocean. These calculations show large changes in sea level in marginal seas during the 1997–8 El Niño and La Niña events, as well as providing information on the origin and life cycle of large anticyclonic eddies, observed to be generated off the west coast of Canada.
Acknowledgments
The Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, has provided the ‘tidalist’ versions of TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 altimeter data. Coastal sea-level data were supplied by Bodo de Lange Boom and Tony Ma of the Canadian Hydrographic Service and by Melvin Mccray and Stephen Lyles of the NOAA CO-OPS Program.
Notes
An updated version of a paper originally presented at Oceans from Space ‘Venice 2000’ Symposium, Venice, Italy, 9–13 October 2000.