Oceanic signals in observed motions of the Earth's pole of rotation

Rui M. Ponte (), Detlef Stammer and John Marshall
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Rui M. Ponte: Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.
Detlef Stammer: Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Marshall: Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature, 1998, vol. 391, issue 6666, 476-479

Abstract: Abstract Motion of the Earth's pole of rotation relative to its crust, commonly referred to as polar motion, can be excited by a variety of geophysical mechanisms1. In particular, changes in atmospheric wind and mass fields have been linked to polar motion over a wide range of timescales, but substantial discrepancies remain between the atmospheric and geodetic observations1,2,3,4. Here we present results from a nearly global ocean model which indicate that oceanic circulation and mass-field variability play important roles in the excitation of seasonal to fortnightly polar motion. The joint oceanic and atmospheric excitation provides a better agreement with the observed polar motion than atmospheric excitation alone. Geodetic measurements may therefore be used to provide a global consistency check on the quality of simulated large-scale oceanic fields.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/35126

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