Dynamic Topography and Sea Level Anomalies of the Southern Ocean: Variability and Teleconnections

Abstract

AbstractThis study combines sea surface height (SSH) estimates of the ice‐covered Southern Ocean with conventional open‐ocean SSH estimates from CryoSat‐2 to produce monthly composites of dynamic ocean topography (DOT) and sea level anomaly (SLA) on a 50 km grid spanning 2011–2016. This data set reveals the full Southern Ocean SSH seasonal cycle for the first time; there is an antiphase relationship between sea level on the Antarctic continental shelf and the deeper basins, with coastal SSH highest in autumn and lowest in spring. As a result of this pattern of seasonal SSH variability, the barotropic component of the Antarctic Slope Current (ASC) has speeds that are regionally up to twice as fast in the autumn. Month‐to‐month circulation variability of the Ross and Weddell Gyres is strongly influenced by the local wind field, and is correlated with the local wind curl (Ross: −0.58; Weddell: −0.67). SSH variability is linked to both the Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode, dominant modes of southern hemisphere climate variability. In particular, during the strong 2015–2016 El Niño, a sustained negative coastal SLA of up to −6 cm, implying a weakening of the ASC, was observed in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. The ability to examine sea level variability in the seasonally ice‐covered regions of the Southern Ocean—climatically important regions with an acute sparsity of data—makes this new merged sea level record of particular interest to the Southern Ocean oceanography and glaciology communities.