Global observations of oceanic Rossby waves.
Abstract
Rossby waves play a critical role in the transient adjustment of ocean circulation to changes in large-scale atmospheric forcing. The TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeter has detected Rossby waves throughout much of the world ocean from sea level signals with ≲10-centimeter amplitude and ≳500-kilometer wavelength. Outside of the tropics, Rossby waves are abruptly amplified by major topographic features. Analysis of 3 years of data reveals discrepancies between observed and theoretical Rossby wave phase speeds that indicate that the standard theory for free, linear Rossby waves is an incomplete description of the observed waves.
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For 1995 (1997), the time-longitude SLA plots at 5°S show the positive (negative) SLA signal at the southeast Atlantic propagating clearly westward as a Rossby wave.
“For 1995 (1997), the time-longitude SLA plots (Fig. 7) at 5°S show how the positive (negative) SLA signal at the southeast Atlantic is propagating clearly westward as a Rossby wave (Chelton and Schlax 1996;Polito and Cornillon 1997).”
From Tropical Atlantic variability modes (1979-2002). Part I: Time-evolving SST modes related to West African rainfall (2008) · cites this paper as Chelton and Schlax 1996
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Schott, F. A., & McCreary, J. P. (2001) · Progress in Oceanography · doi:10.1016/s0079-6611(01)00083-0 · Cited by 1,798 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Chelton, D. B., & Schlax, M. G.
- Affiliations
- Oregon State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chelton, Dudley B.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1996-04-12
- Volume
- 272
- Issue
- 5259
- Pages
- 234-238
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W593145596
- Cited by
- 828
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 27.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- Oceanographic literature review
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Keywords
- Rossby waves, oceanic Rossby waves, sea level, ocean circulation, topographic amplification, phase velocity, atmospheric forcing
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