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The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry

Includes bibliographical references.

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Main Author: Taunton-Clark, John
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Oceanography 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Taunton-Clark, John
author_browse Taunton-Clark, John
author_facet Taunton-Clark, John
author_sort Taunton-Clark, John
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21515
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Oceanography
publisherStr Department of Oceanography
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21515 The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry Taunton-Clark, John Oceanography Includes bibliographical references. The methods of analysing, interpreting and computing surf ace geostrophic currents from GEOSAT altimeter data are explained. These methods were implemented in an examination of GEOSAT altimeter data for the period 12 July 1988 to 13 May 1989 with application to the identification and tracking of Agulhas rings in the southeast Atlantic Ocean. A population of as many circulation features of as five anticyclonic (and cyclonic) annular form consistent with that reported for Agulhas rings was identified from the altimeter data. The positive identification of the same feature in subsequent repeat cycles was, however, difficult. The Verna ring was identified as it travelled approximately along the ground track of GEOSAT pass A 158. Its horizontal (approximately 200 km diameter) and vertical (>30 cm sea surface elevation) dimensions confirmed its identity as an Agulhas ring. The translation speed of the Verna ring along pass A 158 was determined as 6.8 cm·s⁻¹ consistent with the speeds reported in the literature. Surface geostrophic speeds calculated from the altimeter-derived sea surface slopes showed maximum anticyclonic speeds of nearly 40 cm·s⁻¹ toward the SW at the northern rim and 25 cm·s-1 toward the NE at the southern edge of the ring. 2016-08-24T12:59:52Z 2016-08-24T12:59:52Z 1993 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21515 eng application/pdf Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Oceanography
Taunton-Clark, John
The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
title_full The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
title_fullStr The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
title_full_unstemmed The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
title_short The identification and tracking of Agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
title_sort identification and tracking of agulhas rings using satellite altimetry
topic Oceanography
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21515
work_keys_str_mv AT tauntonclarkjohn theidentificationandtrackingofagulhasringsusingsatellitealtimetry
AT tauntonclarkjohn identificationandtrackingofagulhasringsusingsatellitealtimetry