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A Complete Formula of Ocean Surface Absolute Geostrophic Current.

Peter C Chu1

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The absolute geostrophic current at the ocean surface is not solely determined by the dynamic ocean topography gradient. Current oceanography practices are inaccurate, requiring a reevaluation of surface current calculations.

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Area of Science:

  • Physical Oceanography
  • Satellite Geodesy
  • Geophysics

Background:

  • The absolute geostrophic current at the ocean surface (S) is conventionally represented by a single component.
  • This component is often simplified to the geostrophic shear derived from the horizontal gradient of dynamic ocean topography.
  • This simplification overlooks other contributing factors to the surface current.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the accuracy of using only the dynamic ocean topography gradient to represent the absolute geostrophic current at the ocean surface.
  • To quantify the difference between the complete absolute geostrophic current and its commonly used approximation.
  • To highlight the necessity of considering all components for precise ocean current estimation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized four publicly available datasets to compute the individual components of the absolute geostrophic current.
  • Calculated the absolute geostrophic current at the geoid undulation (N).
  • Determined the geostrophic shear components arising from dynamic ocean topography and density gradients.

Main Results:

  • A significant discrepancy was observed between the calculated absolute geostrophic current (S) and the geostrophic shear due to dynamic ocean topography.
  • Statistical analysis revealed a relative root mean square difference of 0.605 between these two measures.
  • This indicates that the commonly used approximation is not representative of the true surface current.

Conclusions:

  • The common practice in physical oceanography and satellite geodesy of equating the surface absolute geostrophic current with the horizontal gradient of dynamic ocean topography is incorrect.
  • The horizontal gradient of dynamic ocean topography alone is insufficient to accurately represent the absolute geostrophic current at the ocean surface.
  • Accurate ocean current modeling requires the incorporation of all contributing factors, including density gradients.