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Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model

The Agulhas region is known to be of global importance due to its role in the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation (GMOC) and regionally it can influence rainfall patterns and severe weather events. The long-term variability of the Agulhas region was analysed in relation to temperature, sea sur...

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Main Author: du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Oceanography 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
author_browse du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
author_facet du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
author_sort du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
collection Thesis
description The Agulhas region is known to be of global importance due to its role in the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation (GMOC) and regionally it can influence rainfall patterns and severe weather events. The long-term variability of the Agulhas region was analysed in relation to temperature, sea surface height (SSH) and velocity within the current using output from a regional ocean model. Validation of the model with in situ and satellite observed values for the temperature and SSH showed the modelled SSH results to be only marginally different from the satellite observed, while the temperature validation showed the modelled results to be over-estimating temperature across the region. Relatively weak trends existed in temperature and SSH for some parts of the Agulhas Current, most notably the retroflection region. There were also periods such as the 1960s and 1990s which were anomalously warm whereas the 1950s and 2000s were relatively cool. Analyses of these periods in terms of atmospheric changes throughout the Southern Hemisphere revealed some connections with El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and shifts in the wavenumber 3 or 4 pattern in the mid-latitude atmosphere
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6584
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:54.917Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
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:11427/6584 Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model du Plessis, Kirsten Annette The Agulhas region is known to be of global importance due to its role in the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation (GMOC) and regionally it can influence rainfall patterns and severe weather events. The long-term variability of the Agulhas region was analysed in relation to temperature, sea surface height (SSH) and velocity within the current using output from a regional ocean model. Validation of the model with in situ and satellite observed values for the temperature and SSH showed the modelled SSH results to be only marginally different from the satellite observed, while the temperature validation showed the modelled results to be over-estimating temperature across the region. Relatively weak trends existed in temperature and SSH for some parts of the Agulhas Current, most notably the retroflection region. There were also periods such as the 1960s and 1990s which were anomalously warm whereas the 1950s and 2000s were relatively cool. Analyses of these periods in terms of atmospheric changes throughout the Southern Hemisphere revealed some connections with El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and shifts in the wavenumber 3 or 4 pattern in the mid-latitude atmosphere 2014-08-15T14:22:05Z 2014-08-15T14:22:05Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6584 eng application/pdf Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle du Plessis, Kirsten Annette
Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
title_full Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
title_fullStr Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
title_full_unstemmed Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
title_short Low frequency variabilty of the Agulhas Current region in a numerical model
title_sort low frequency variabilty of the agulhas current region in a numerical model
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6584
work_keys_str_mv AT duplessiskirstenannette lowfrequencyvariabiltyoftheagulhascurrentregioninanumericalmodel