Correction to “Relation between sea level and barometric pressure determined from altimeter data and model simulations” by P. Gaspar and R. M. Ponte

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In the paper Relation between sea level and barometric pressure determined from altimeter data and model simulations by P. Gaspar and R. M. Ponte (Journal of Geophysical Research, 10œ(C1), 961-971, 1997), the curves denoted by P in Figure 4, representing regression coefficients of sea level on barometric pressure based on a model run with only barometric pressure forcing, were erroneously calculated because of a problem in reading the model output. A corrected Figure 4, with its caption, is reproduced here. The only changes pertain to the curves denoted by P, and they only are important at low latitudes. The pressure-forced model regression coefficients show a larger decrease towards the equator. For At -- 3 days, minimum values at the equator are slightly below 0.8 cm/mbar, as opposed to 0.9 cm/mbar previously. Gaspar and Ponte had concluded, on the basis of Figure 4, that wind-driven effects were the main cause for the deviations from inverted barometer values found in the model regression coefficients in the tropics. The corrected Figure 4 implies that contribu. tions from pressure-driven effects (up to approximately 0.2 cm/mbar in the tropics) are at least as important as those from wind-driven effects. True nonisostatic sea level signals, related to a dynamic ocean response to pressure, may thus play a larger role than what was suggested previously in explaining the TOPEX/POSEIDON observations in the tropics. A thorough reexamination of the model results regarding this and other issues will be presented in a new manuscript currently in preparation.