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The European MyOcean project (http://www. myocean.eu.org) provides observations of the ocean dynamic topography from altimeter measurements. Three specific indicators have been developed, based on altimeter data only, in order to monitor the ocean state. The first ocean indicator observes the positive and negative phases of the ENSO events in the tropical Pacific, the El Niño/La Niña events, since 1992. The second ocean indicator tracks the contracted or extended state of the Kuroshio Extension. The last ocean indicator is dedicated to the Ionian Basin in the Mediterranean Sea and permits separation of "zonal-cyclonic" state (1998-2005 and since 2011 up to now) from the "anticyclonic" state (1993-1996) usually discussed in the literature. In addition, it allows identifying a third state in which both the anticyclonic circulation around the northern part of the basin and the strong zonal Mid-Ionian Jet co-exist (2008-2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sea Level Thematic Assembly Center from the MyOcean project provides observations of the ocean dynamic topography from altimeter measurements. Three specific indicators have been developed, based on altimeter data only, in order to monitor the ocean state. The first ocean indicator observes the positive and negative phases of the ENSO events in the Tropical Pacific, the El Niño/La Niña events since 1992. The second ocean indicator checks the contracted or extended state of the Kuroshio Extension. The last ocean indicator is dedicated to the Ionian basin in the Mediterranean Sea and permits to separate "zonal-cyclonic" state (1998-2005 and since 2011 up to now) from the "anticyclonic" state (1993-1996) usually discussed in the literature. In addition it allows identifying a third state in which both the anticyclonic circulation around the northern part of the basin and the strong zonal Mid-Ionian jet co-exist (2008-2010). Besides providing useful indices to monitor the ocean state, these indicators are a new tool to assess the long-term quality of the SLTAC products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]