Weighing the ocean with bottom-pressure sensors: robustness of the ocean mass annual cycle estimate

Williams, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8421-4481; Hughes, C.W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9355-0233; Tamisiea, M.E.; Williams, S.D.P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4123-4973. 2014 Weighing the ocean with bottom-pressure sensors: robustness of the ocean mass annual cycle estimate. Ocean Science, 10 (4). 701-718. https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-701-2014

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Official URL: http://www.ocean-sci.net/10/701/2014/os-10-701-201...

Abstract/Summary

We use ocean bottom-pressure measurements from 17 tropical sites to determine the annual cycle of ocean mass. We show that such a calculation is robust, and use three methods to estimate errors in the mass determination. Our final best estimate, using data from the best sites and two ocean models, is that the annual cycle has an amplitude of 0.85 mbar (equivalent to 8.4 mm of sea level, or 3100 Gt of water), with a 95% chance of lying within the range 0.61–1.17 mbar. The time of the peak in ocean mass is 10 October, with 95% chance of occurring between 21 September and 25 October. The simultaneous fitting of annual ocean mass also improves the fitting of bottom-pressure instrument drift.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-701-2014
ISSN:	1812-0784
Date made live:	01 Nov 2013 17:14 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503679

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-701-2014

ISSN:

1812-0784

Date made live:

01 Nov 2013 17:14 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503679