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Airborne lidar altimetry can measure the sea surface height (SSH) over scales ranging from hundreds of kilometers to a few meters. Here, we analyze the spectrum of SSH observations collected during an airborne lidar campaign conducted off the California coast. We show that the variance in the surface wave band can be over 20 times larger than the variance at submesoscales and that the observed SSH variability is sensitive to the directionality of surface waves. Our results support the hypothesis that there is a spectral gap between meso-to-submesoscale motions and small-scale surface waves and also indicate that aliasing of surface waves into lower wavenumbers may complicate the interpretation of SSH spectra. These results highlight the importance of better understanding the contributions of different physics to the SSH variability and considering the SSH spectrum as a continuum in the context of future satellite altimetry missions.

[1] Steric variability in the ocean includes diabatic changes in the surface layer due to air-sea buoyancy fluxes and adiabatic changes due to advection, which are dominant in the subsurface ocean. Here the annual signal in subsurface steric height (η′below 200 db) is computed on a global scale using temperature and salinity profiles from Argo floats. The zonal average of Δη′ over a season (e.g., ηMarch′−ηDecember′) is compared to the wind-forced vertical advection contribution (Δηw′) both in the global ocean and in different basins. The results show agreement that extends beyond the tropics. The estimate of Δηw′ is based on the Ekman pumping and assumes that the seasonal vertical velocity is constant over the depth range of interest. This assumption is consistent with annual isopycnal displacements inferred from Argo profiles. The contribution of horizontal advection to Δη′is significant in some regions and consistent with differences between Δη′ and Δηw′.

[1] The largest climate anomaly of the last 1000 years in the Northern Hemisphere was the Little Ice Age (LIA) from 1400–1850 C.E., but little is known about the signature of this event in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. We present temperature data from a 300 m borehole at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide. Results show that WAIS Divide was colder than the last 1000-year average from 1300 to 1800 C.E. The temperature in the time period 1400–1800 C.E. was on average 0.52 ± 0.28°C colder than the last 100-year average. This amplitude is about half of that seen at Greenland Summit (GRIP). This result is consistent with the idea that the LIA was a global event, probably caused by a change in solar and volcanic forcing, and was not simply a seesaw-type redistribution of heat between the hemispheres as would be predicted by some ocean-circulation hypotheses. The difference in the magnitude of the LIA between Greenland and West Antarctica suggests that the feedbacks amplifying the radiative forcing may not operate in the same way in both regions.

The Greenland Sea Ocean Acoustic Tomography Experiment was conducted during 1988–89, as one component of the international Greenland Sea Project, to study deep water formation and the response of the gyre to variations in wind stress and ice cover. Six acoustic transceivers moored in an array 200-km across transmitted to one another at four hour intervals. Near the end of February, 1989, a sub-surface temperature maximum at several hundred meters depth disappeared over a surprisingly large area of the central Greenland Sea. While the water column was modified to about 1000 m depth over much of the gyre, the surface remained colder than the deeper water, contrary to what might be expected from simple models of convective renewal.

[1] The barotropic Rossby wave field in the North Atlantic Ocean is studied in an eddy-resolving ocean model simulation. The meandering model Gulf Stream radiates barotropic Rossby waves southward through preferred corridors defined by topographic features. The smoother region between the Bermuda Rise and the mid-Atlantic Ridge is a particularly striking corridor of barotropic wave radiation in the 20–50 day period band. Barotropic Rossby waves are also preferentially excited at higher frequencies over the Bermuda Rise, suggesting resonant excitation of topographic Rossby normal modes. The prevalence of these radiated waves suggests that they may be an important energy sink for the equilibrium state of the Gulf Stream.

A vertical section of the interior structure of Jasper Seamount was modeled using a spectral tomographic inversion of P wave travel times. An array of ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs) deployed over the seamount detected the arrivals from a series of ocean bottom shots. A reference velocity model reveals that average compressional velocities within the seamount are similar to those found within Kilauea and are consistently slower than velocities at equivalent depths in typical oceanic crust. This suggests Jasper Seamount has a high average porosity. Perturbations from the reference model were imaged by tomographic inversion. A high velocity zone within the northwest flank of the seamount may result from dikes associated with a radial rift or from a shallow solidified magma reservoir. A low velocity summit may result from shallow, explosive eruptions. The tomographic model is consistent with the results of gravity, magnetic and dredging analyses.