Tropical Pacific sea surface and dynamic height anomalies:
A dynamical view of subsurface seasonal to interannual variability

K. Lorbacher, R.E. Davis and P.P. Niiler, SIO

The variability on seasonal to interannual scales of the sea surface and
dynamic height in the tropical Pacific should contribute essentially to 
enlighten the El Nino event, ultimately to identify different El Nino's.
We analyze TOPEX/Poseidon sea surface height measurements and dynamic
heights (relative to 500 m) from the TAO/Trition array. They are opposed
to corresponding parameter of two solutions of the global ECCO ocean
state
estimation: with a two and one degree global grid, whereas latter
includes all WOCE data over the period from 1992 to 2001.
To illuminate considerable differences in the model-data comparisons
studies we address two main questions: (1) How does the model represent
the
phase and the amplitude of the El Nino cycle (2) and to what
quantitative
extend is the different model configuration responsible for the
deviations from
the observations?