Satellite Observations of Seasonal and Interannual Changes of Sea Level and Currents over the Scotian Slope

Abstract

Abstract Seasonal and interannual sea level and current variations over the Scotian slope are examined using 10 years of Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon (T/P) satellite altimeter data. Geostrophic surface current anomalies normal to ground tracks are derived from the along-track gradients of sea level anomalies. The altimetric current anomalies are combined with a climatological mean circulation field of a finite-element model to construct nominal absolute currents. The seasonal mean results indicate that the sea level is highest in late summer and lowest in late winter and that the surface slope circulation is strong in winter/autumn and weaker in summer/spring. The total transport associated with the westward shelf-edge current and with the eastward slope current, calculated by combining the T/P data with a climatological seasonal mean density field, reveals a substantial seasonal change dominated by the barotropic component. The present analysis reveals prominent interannual changes of the sea level and current anomalies for the study period. The sea level was lowest in 1996/97, when the Gulf Stream was in its most southern position. The mean winter circulation over the Scotian slope was strongest (up to 30 cm s−1 in both the southwestward shelf-edge current and northeastward slope current) in 1998 and weakest (weaker and broader shelf-edge current) in 1996, which may be related to the fluctuation of the equatorward Labrador Current strength and of the Gulf Stream north–south position. The study also suggests that the root-mean-square current magnitude is positively correlated with the occurrence of the Gulf Stream warm-core rings (WCRs) on the interannual scale, while WCR yearly mean kinematic properties seem to have small variations.