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1993-05-03
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Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. March 31, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-0873)
Mary A. Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)
RELEASE: 93-
TOPEX/POSEIDON OBSERVES GIANT WAVES IN STORM OF THE CENTURY
As the "storm of the century" hit the eastern part of the
United States on March 14, giant waves measuring up to
approximately 40 feet (12 meters) high were observed in the North
Atlantic by the U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon satellite.
The highest waves measured by the radar altimeter onboard
the satellite were observed halfway between the United States and
Europe at the latitude of New York City -- approximately 41
degrees north. Strong winds of 45 miles per hour (20 meters per
second) also were recorded in the vicinity of the high waves.
"The Topex/Poseidon mission studies the dynamics of the
world's ocean currents by measuring the shape of the sea surface
using a radar altimeter," said Dr. Lee Fu, project scientist at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"The height of the waves and the speed of the wind over the
ocean also are measured by the radar as byproducts of the
mission," he continued. Measuring sea level allows
oceanographers to study changes in ocean currents and global
circulation and to determine how those changing currents affect
world climate.
In related activities, scientists at the Naval Research
Laboratory in Mississippi report that their recent analysis of
Topex/Poseidon data, as well as measurement taken by tide gauges
and buoys confirms that the Kelvin wave pulse that they predicted
in February has arrived at the South American coast as they
anticipated.
A Kelvin wave is a large warm water mass that moves along
the equator in the Pacific Ocean. These pulses sometimes
contribute to El Nino conditions in the eastern equatorial
Pacific.
JPL manages the NASA portion of the Topex/Poseidon mission
for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. Launched Aug. 10,
1992 from Kourou, French Guiana, Topex/Poseidon is the second
satellite in the Mission to Planet Earth Program, NASA's long-
term effort to study Earth as a global environmental system.
-end-