Satellite Altimetry for Indian Ocean Studies

Satellite altimetry has proved its capability to study a wide variety of oceanographic phenomena, particularly, over the data sparse Indian Ocean region. Sea surface height anomalies (SSHA) from altimeters have been extensively used to study the mixed layer dynamics and the oceanic eddies. The SSHAs are used to detect and map eddies in the form of an atlas. Bay of Bengal eddies propagate slowly compared to other parts of the ocean including Arabian Sea. TOPEX/POSEIDON observations with the XBT measurements have been used to infer subsurface thermal structure where in situ observations are not available. Using SSHAs current variability and the inter-annual variation of eddy kinetic energy are studied in the Indian Ocean. RMS sea level variability was high in regions of Rossby wave propagation. FFT analysis was used to identify the eddy regions. Inter-annual and seasonal variations in thermocline slopes could also be inferred from SSHAs. 2.