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Bjorn Backeberg^1,2
L. Bertino^2,3, J. A. Johannessen^3,4 and C. J. C. Reason¹

(1) Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, South Africa
(2) Mohn-Sverdup Center for Global Ocean Studies and Operational Oceanography, Bergen, Norway
(3) Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC), Bergen, Norway
(4) Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway

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A regional nested Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) has been implemented to simulate ocean circulation around southern Africa with the objective of better understanding the dynamics of the Agulhas Current system, and especially, its mesoscale dynamics and eddy evolving processes. In a region characterised by a general paucity of hydrographic observations, model validation from satellite remote sensing data products plays an important role. In particular, radar altimetry observations from satellites are of beneficial use in the Agulhas Current regime, since this regime is known to exhibit some of the strongest mesoscale variability in the global ocean. A statistical validation approach, using the fast Fourier transform to validate model variability, is presented as a new metric to measure model consistency. In addition to confirming that variability in the Agulhas Current system occurs on weekly, intra-seasonal and seasonal time-scales, the analysis reveals that mesoscale eddies from the Mozambique Channel frequently interact at the Agulhas Retroflection, suggesting that upstream mesoscale eddies contribute significantly to the Indo-Atlantic inter-ocean exchange and thus to the global thermohaline circulation.

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