The Information Contained in Altimetric Sea Surface Height Frequency Spectra

Despite the amount of data sampled by current and upcoming satellite missions, the temporal evolution of oceanic turbulence is for now poorly understood. Here, we use state-of-the-art satellite measurements of sea surface height time series, combined with global oceanic reanalysis and idealized numerical simulations to study the properties of the frequency spectrum for oceanic turbulence. We show that the meridional gradient of potential vorticity, that supports planetary Rossby waves, and the barotropic current are the main parameters that shape the frequency spectrum of sea surface height as observed by satellite altimetry.