Abstract
ERS-1 (35-day repeat) and GEOSAT (17-day repeat) altimetric measurements over the North Atlantic have been processed to study the mean sea surface and the sea surface currents. This paper presents some details on the processing techniques applied and on the results obtained. The large-scale semi-permanent circulation is determined from a least squares parameter adjustment method in which a number of gravity field coefficients and a low order and -degree dynamic ocean topography model are solved for simultaneously. After radial orbit error reduction by crossover difference residuals minimization, the mesoscale eddy circulation is obtained from analyzing the temporal variation of the local sea surface. In addition, mean wavenumber spectra have been computed for two areas in the North Atlantic, and some Gulfstream eddy characteristics, such as translation and rotation velocity, have been determined.
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