The Effect of Ocean Currents on Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

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Abstract
Global and regional correlations between observed anomalies in sea surface temperature and height are investigated. A strong agreement between the two fields is found over a broad range of latitudes for different ocean basins. From a global frequency spectrum, a mean SST damping timescale of 2–3 months was found with westward and eastward propagating anomalies contributing more or less equally to the total variance. Time–longitude plots and wavenumber–frequency spectra show a significant advective forcing of SST anomalies by a first-mode baroclinic eddy or wave field on spatial scales down to 400 km and timescales as short as 1 month. A scaling analysis of forcing terms in a mixed layer temperature model suggests that Ekman terms are expected to be smaller in magnitude. Even though the magnitude of the mean background temperature gradient determines the effectiveness of the forcing, there is no obvious seasonality that can be detected in the amplitudes of SST anomalies. Instead, individual waveli... Abstract Global and regional correlations between observed anomalies in sea surface temperature and height are investigated. A strong agreement between the two fields is found over a broad range of latitudes for different ocean basins. From a global frequency spectrum, a mean SST damping timescale of 2–3 months was found with westward and eastward propagating anomalies contributing more or less equally to the total variance. Time–longitude plots and wavenumber–frequency spectra show a significant advective forcing of SST anomalies by a first-mode baroclinic eddy or wave field on spatial scales down to 400 km and timescales as short as 1 month. A scaling analysis of forcing terms in a mixed layer temperature model suggests that Ekman terms are expected to be smaller in magnitude. Even though the magnitude of the mean background temperature gradient determines the effectiveness of the forcing, there is no obvious seasonality that can be detected in the amplitudes of SST anomalies. Instead, individual waveli...

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