SEA SURFACE HEIGHT VARIABILITY IN THE RIO DE LA PLATA ESTUARY AND THE ADJACENT CONTINENTAL SHELF

SARACENO, M.; SIMIONATO, C. G.; BEDESSEM, B.; D'ONOFRIO, E.E.

San Diego

Workshop; 5th Coastal Altimetry Workshop; 2011

University of California

High standard deviation (STD) values of Sea Surface Height (SSH) of both gridded and along track satellite products in the Río de la Plata estuary have been usually associated to the fact that non-appropriate corrections have been applied to altimetry data. In this work we first estimate the accuracy of the latest generation of gridded altimetry data produced by AVISO (Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic data) and by CTOH (Centre de Topographie des Oceans et de l'Hydrosphere) along the T/P and Jason 1 tracks by comparison with in-situ data. Decomposition in Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) of the seasonal cycle suggests that the first two modes of variability correspond to the first two modes found with SST satellite data in the region (Simionato et al., 2010). The first mode is related to the radiative cycle while the second mode displays reflects the effect of the winds on the plume. Interannual variability is also observed. On intraseasonal time scales negative anomalies along the northern coast of the estuary are observed, which seem to be related to upwelling events also identified on SST data.