Spectral analysis of quasi-stationary sea surface topography from GRACE mission

Abstract

During the last two decades satellite altimetry has offered an abundance of measurements of the sea surface resulting in the improvement of global mean sea surface height (MSSH) and marine geoid determination. On the other hand, with the launching of new generation gravity satellites, some high accuracy long-wavelength gravity models are available. These breakthroughs give us a great opportunity for new estimation of quasi-stationary sea surface topography (QSST). In this paper, the new gravity model GGM01C derived from GRACE mission is briefly presented, and a new global high precision and high-resolution QSST is determined based on the GGM01C model and the global MSSH. The spectral features of the QSST estimated by GGM01C and EGM96 gravity model to degree/order 200 are discussed by spectral analysis. As a result, the QSST is mainly composed of long waves, medium waves partially and short waves scarcely, its power spectral structures are different between the zonal direction and the meridional direction, there are great differences between the two models, which maybe explain why the ocean currents derived from the two gravity models by Tapley show different patterns.