[MITgcm-support] Calculation of eta

[Martin Losch]

I am no specialist, but the steric height causes a lot of confusion.

A Boussinesq model neglects the contribution of variations in density to the continuity equation, that's why we talk about incompressilbe fluids. 
Still the geostrophic balance that evolves in any Boussinesq model leads to a surface elevation that you would also get from steric height computations. That is kind of obvious, because the geostrophic currents do include the density variations (thermal wind). Does that make it clearer?

Martin

On Apr 18, 2013, at 8:18 PM, Jonathan Whitefield <jwhitefield at alaska.edu> wrote:

> Hi all.
> 
> I was just wondering whether the calculation of the ETAN field (sea
> surface height anomaly) includes variations in steric height (i.e.
> density driven changes) or not. I did have a look in the handbook, but
> couldn't see a reference to steric height in there. Apologies if I
> missed an obvious answer!
> 
> --
> Jonathan Whitefield, M.Sc.
> Ph.D. Student, Physical Oceanography
> 
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