ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a review of the advances in observing the ocean eddy field with satellite altimetry over the last 10 years and addresses the techniques being used to study the finer-scale ocean dynamics. It provides an overview of the reprocessing of along-track data, both from conventional altimetry and the new technology missions, and looks at the improvements in mapping the multi-mission data for mesoscale studies. The chapter reviews various scientific applications of the fine-scale ocean eddies. These include analyses of mesoscale eddies and jets in the global ocean and regional seas and analyses of along-track spectra from different altimetric missions and their relation with instability regimes in the ocean. The chapter covers the potential and limits of resolving higher-order dynamical processes from the mapped data and deals with the new challenges in separating the internal wave signal from the smaller mesoscale sea surface height signals.
