A new look at the zonal pattern of the marine wind system from TOPEX measurements

The documentation of the zonal pattern of global wind system can be traced back to centuries ago. The prevailing descriptions in most oceanography books, however, have been of little change during the past decades. The present work represents a new effort to update our knowledge on this issue using the newly available multi-year TOPEX altimeter data. As a result, the positions and intensities of major zonal features of the marine wind system are reexamined and more precisely defined. The seasonal, annual, and interannual variabilities of these features in terms of both amplitude and phase are analyzed in detail. Uncertainties associated with the estimated intensity and the peak/trough positions of the zonal wind belts are discussed. Meanwhile, a possible connection between the meridional shift of the Pacific doldrums and the occurrence of an El Niٌo event is observed.