Brian Dunbar

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

June 28, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-0873)

Mary A. Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 93-122

TOPEX POSEIDON MAPS PRECISE GLOBAL SEA LEVEL

During the first 6 months of their mission, scientists using

the U.S.-
French TOPEX/Poseidon oceanographic satellite have recorded the
most
accurate measurements to date of global sea level changes.

The data will be used by oceanographers to calibrate the

computer models
that help forecast future climate changes.

"The changes in sea level we have observed during the first 6

months
from October 1992 to March 1993 are a combination of the effects
of seasonal
warming and cooling as well as wind forcing," said Lee-Lueng Fu,
TOPEX/Poseidon Project Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL),
Pasadena, Calif.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the sea level in the Gulf Stream

off the
United States East Coast and the sea level in the Kuroshio regions
east of Japan
dropped by more than 12 inches (30 centimeters). Most of this
drop was
caused by the winter cooling of the ocean by the cold continental
air mass
blown off the North American and Asian continents, Fu said.

In the Southern Hemisphere, a corresponding sea level rise

occurred at
similar latitudes which resulted from the warming of the summer
atmosphere.

"It takes an increase or decrease of 1 degree Celsius (1.8

degrees Fahrenheit) in the average temperature of a water column
50 meters (165 feet) deep to cause the sea level to rise or fall
by 1 centimeter (0.4 inches)," Fu explained.

-more-

-2-

The sea level change in the Northern Hemisphere is larger

than that in the
Southern Hemisphere because the larger land mass of the Northern
Hemisphere creates colder continental air mass that cools the
ocean water off
the east coasts of North America and Asia.

Seasonal changes in the trade winds caused a drop in sea

level at the
equator in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, Fu said. The
rise in sea level
in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean off the coast of South
America was the
remnant of the Kelvin wave pulses that began in December 1992. A
Kelvin
wave pulse creates a surge of warm water that moves eastward along
the
equator and can contribute to El Nino conditions.

In the Indian Ocean, reversing seasonal monsoon winds caused

a fall in
sea level in the eastern and southern regions and a rise in sea
level in the
northwestern region.

JPL manages the NASA portion of the joint U.S.-French mission

for
NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. Launched Aug. 10, 1992,
the
satellite is part of NASA's long-term effort to study Earth as a
global
environmental system.
-end-

EDITORS NOTE: A computer-enhanced image to illustrate this story

is available
by contacting the Broadcast and Imaging Branch at 202/358-1900.
Image numbers are: Color - 93-HC-307
B&W - 93-H-331