Observation of Rossby waves in satellite derived chlorophyll-a data

Baroclinic Rossby waves are long wavelength oceanic processes that can affect the whole of the water column. During the past decade they have been detected in sea surface height data from altimetry, with clear signals in all ocean basins. More recently they have been observed globally in datasets of sea surface temperature too. Because of their effect on the mixed layer, they may also produce an effect on the development of phytoplankton, and thus produce a signal in ocean colour data. We show westward-propagating features in chlorophyll-a data from two different spaceborne sensors and compare their characteristics with the signals in sea surface height. 1