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Rossby waves (fwd)



What do the list make of the following???

Jim Green


WEATHER-CHANGING OCEAN WAVES
CHARTED FROM SPACE

New results from the ocean-observing TOPEX/Poseidon
satellite are challenging a fundamental oceanographic
theory about the speed of large-scale ocean waves -- a
finding that could ultimately revise science textbooks and
improve global weather forecasting.

The large-scale ocean waves, with wavelengths of hundreds
of kilometers from one wave crest to the next, are called
Rossby waves. These waves carry a "memory" of weather
changes that have happened at distant locations over the
ocean, according to NSFfunded researcher Dudley Chelton of
Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Using data gathered by the satellite, scientists tracked
the waves as they moved through the open ocean, and
determined that, at mid-latitudes, the Rossby waves are
moving two to three times faster than previously thought.
Since Rossby waves can alter currents and corresponding
sea surface temperatures, the waves influence the way the
oceans release heat to the atmosphere and thus are able to
affect weather patterns. Says Chelton, "If the waves get
from one side of the mid-latitude ocean to the other twice
as fast, the ocean adjusts more rapidly to changes than we
had previously thought."

This more precise information about how fast the waves are
traveling may help forecasters improve their ability to
predict the effects of El Nino events on weather patterns
years in advance.