Ocean transients as observed by Geos 3 coincident orbits

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Abstract
Ocean mesoscale transients are revealed in Geos 3 altimeter data. The transients are brought out by inspection of the differences within groups of coincident orbits in the western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. Each of the five groups, used in the study, is composed of three individual Geos 3 orbits, lying within 2 km of the mean orbit of the group. The difference of each orbit from the group mean contains sea level transients and instrumental noise; the steady state geoid is removed. The noise dominates the spectrum below 200 km wavelength, whereas ocean mesoscale transient features dominate above 200 km. At the low frequency end of the spectra the time separation of the individual orbits may attenuate the signal of the long wavelength transients.