Using Geodesy to Better Understand Ocean Dynamics (Invited)

Measurements of sea level have long been used to understand many oceanographic processes, including the tides, ocean circulation, planetary waves, and mesoscale eddy variability. A more recent geodetic measurement, large-scale global gravity, has been relatively underutilized, partly because of the low signal-to-noise ratio over the ocean. However, with appropriate processing, gravity data from satellite missions such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Experiment (GOCE) can be used to understand several important aspects of ocean dynamics that are difficult or impossible to measure with traditional oceanographic tools. We will discuss several of these, including measuring deep currents and transport in the Southern Ocean, observing variations in the transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, quantifying the mass component of sea level change, and determining large-scale transports of mass that cause variations in the Earth's rotation.