Satellite Observations of Ocean Circulation Changes Associated With Climate Variability

Abstract

Decades of satellite observations have greatly improved our understanding of large-scale ocean circulation changes associated with climate variability, related air-sea interaction, and interbasin linkages. The continuation and enhancement (e.g., increased spatial resolution and frequency) of these satellite measurements and observations of additional parameters (e.g., sea surface salinity) in the coming decades are critical to further advancing our ability to monitor and understand decadal and longer variations in ocean circulation and determining the extent to which these changes result from natural climate variability or anthropogenic inputs.

Keywords

• ocean circulation
• climate variability
• satellite oceanography