Can sea surface height be used to estimate oceanic transport variability?

The relation between the sea surface height and the meridional transport across a zonal section at 26.5 degrees N in the North Atlantic is studied by using an eddy resolving ocean state estimate simulated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model. It is shown that the correlation between the zonal sea surface height difference and transport can be substantially increased if the steric height contribution from the seasonal thermocline is removed. The latter explains a substantial part of sea surface height variability, but its effect on transport is weak. It is also found that the zonal steric height difference correlates well with the transport after the contribution of the seasonal thermocline has been removed. There is a similar agreement (with correlation coefficient of 0.63 for the full signal and 0.89 for the mean seasonal cycle) between the meridional transport and steric height based on observations from the Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) project. Citation: Ivchenko, V. O., D. Sidorenko, S. Danilov, M. Losch, and J. Schroter (2011), Can sea surface height be used to estimate oceanic transport variability?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L11601, doi: 10.1029/2011GL047387.