MID-DEPTH CIRCULATION OF THE WORLD OCEAN: A FIRST LOOK AT THE ARGO ARRAY

摘要

As of February 2006, the Argo array of profiling floats has reached just over 80% of its target density of 3000 profiling floats in the global oceans. The floats now provide temperature and salinity profiles with nearly global coverage. In addition, as they drift at depth the floats provide information about the mid-depth circulation of the World Ocean. In the present study, we consider the sub-surface velocity information that is now being produced by the Argo floats. We find that float displacement data from the Argo array is now sufficient to produce global estimates of the general ocean circulation at 1000 m depth. Furthermore, we find that velocity information contained in the Argo float displacements is complementary to sea surface height measurements made by satellite altimeters and that in many regions altimeter data may be used to improve estimates of time averaged, mid-depth velocity by reducing the eddy-variability that is inherent and ubiquitous in the Argo displacement data.