Sea surface height

Sea surface height

Sea surface height (SSH) is the height (or topography or relief) of the ocean's surface. On a daily basis, SSH is most obviously affected by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the Earth. Over longer timescales, SSH is influenced by both the Earth's gravitational field, and by ocean circulation. Typically, these cause maximum SSH anomalies from the mean on the order of 20 cm at the global scaleFact|date=February 2007.

Since the Earth's gravitational field is relatively stable on decadal to centennial timescales, ocean circulation plays a more significant role in the observed variation of SSH. Across the seasonal cycle changes in patterns of warming, cooling and surface wind forcing affect circulation and influence SSH. Variations in SSH can be measured by satellite altimetry (e.g. TOPEX/Poseidon) and used to calculate determine sea level rise and properties such as ocean heat storage.

External links

* [http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/technology.html TOPEX/Poseidon overview]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sea surface temperature — Weekly average sea surface temperature for the World Ocean during the first week of February 2011, during a period of La Niña …   Wikipedia

  • Sea level rise — is an increase in sea level. Multiple complex factors may influence this change. Sea level has risen about 130 meters (400 ft) since the peak of the last ice age about 18,000 years ago. Most of the rise occurred before 6,000 years ago. From 3,000 …   Wikipedia

  • Sea of Japan — Japanese name …   Wikipedia

  • Height — is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how tall something is, or how high up it is. For example one could say That is a tall building , or That airplane is high up in the sky . These… …   Wikipedia

  • Sea of Azov — at Novaya Yalta, Donetsk Oblast …   Wikipedia

  • Sea level — For the sea level change associated with the current episode of global warming, see current sea level rise. For other uses, see Sea level (disambiguation). This marker indicating the sea level is placed on the path from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea …   Wikipedia

  • sea level — the horizontal plane or level corresponding to the surface of the sea at mean level between high and low tide. [1800 10] * * * Position of the air sea boundary, to which all terrestrial elevations and submarine depths are referred. The sea level… …   Universalium

  • Ocean Surface Topography Mission — OSTM/Jason 2 Artist s interpretation of the Jason 2 satellite Operator NASA, CNES, NOAA, EUMETSAT Mission type Earth orbiter …   Wikipedia

  • Ocean surface topography — TOPEX/Poseidon was the first space mission that allowed scientists to map ocean topography with sufficient accuracy to study the large scale current systems of the world s ocean. Although this image was constructed from only 10 days of… …   Wikipedia

  • Surface weather observation — Surface weather observations are the fundamental data used for safety as well as climatological reasons to forecast weather and issue warnings worldwide. [Office of the Federal Coordinator of Meteorology. [http://www.ofcm.gov/fmh 1/pdf/B CH2.pdf… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”