Ricardo Matano (Oregon State University, United States); Ted Strub (Oregon State University, United States)

The Agulhas Bank, a broad shelf at the southern tip of Africa, is bound by the Agulhas Current to the south and by the Benguela Current to the west. In the present study, we assess the driving mechanisms of the sea surface height and circulation variability over the Agulhas Bank using the altimetry and model experiments. Forced variability includes variability driven by local wind stress, tides and by remotely generated equatorial Kelvin waves propagating along the Atlantic coast. Intrinsic variability is principally found at the southern Agulhas Bank triggered by the passage of mesoscale eddies/pulses of the Agulhas current.