The Ocean and Climate: Results from the TOPEX/POSEIDON Mission

The ocean circulation and its fluctuations are known to have important consequences for climate variations. It is believed that the datively rapid swings of global temperatures (over 10 degree change in less than 30-50 years) in the past interglacial period is primarily associated with changes in the global ocean circulation which regulates the transport of water, heat, and carbon dioxide in the ocean and their exchange with the atmosphere. Unfortunately, most knowledge of the global circulation has been acquixed through piecemeal observations of the temperature and salinity properties of the ocean and used under the radical assumption that the ocean circulation is essentially steady. It is known however, from direct observations of ocean currents, that the fluid flow is turbulent on an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales (ranging from about 30 to 10,000 km and days to hundreds and thousands of years).