Permanent Meanders in the California Current System

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Abstract
Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifter data from 1987 through 2005; Archiving, Validation, and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic data (AVISO) sea level anomalies; and NCEP reanalysis winds are used to assemble a time-averaged map of the 15-m-deep geostrophic velocity field in the California Current System seaward of about 50 km from the coast. The wind data are used to compute the Ekman currents, which are then subtracted from the drifter velocity measurements. The resulting proxy for geostrophic velocity anomalies computed from drifters and from satellite sea level measurements are combined to form an unbiased mean geostrophic circulation map. The result shows a California Current System that flows southward with four permanent meanders that can extend seaward for more than 800 km. Bands of alternating eastward and westward zonal currents are connected to the meanders and extend several thousand kilometers into the Pacific Ocean. This observed time-mean circulation and its associated edd...