The nearly four‐decades‐long quasi‐continuous daily measurements of the Florida Current (FC) volume transport with a submarine cable at about 27°N represents the longest climate record of a boundary current in existence. Given the extremely high utility of this time series for monitoring the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, as well as for improving understanding and prediction of the regional weather, climate phenomena, coastal sea‐level, and ecosystem dynamics, efforts are underway to establish a suitable backup observing system in case the cable becomes inoperable in the future. This study explores the utility of along‐track satellite altimetry measurements since 1993 as a potential cable backup by establishing the relationship between the cross‐stream sea surface height gradients and the FC volume transport derived from cable measurements and ship sections. We find that despite the lower temporal resolution, satellite altimetry can indeed serve as a decent but limited backup observing system. The FC transport inferred from satellite altimetry captures about 60% of the variability observed in the concurrent cable estimates, and the estimated error bars for the altimetry‐derived transport are larger than those of the cable transport (2.1 Sv vs. 1.5 Sv). We nevertheless demonstrate that satellite altimetry reproduces the seasonal, intra‐seasonal, and inter‐annual variability of the FC transport fairly well, as well as large transport anomalies during extreme weather events, such as tropical storms and hurricanes. The altimetry‐derived transport can be provided in near‐real time and serve the need to fill in data gaps in the cable record and assess its quality over time.

中文翻译：

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从卫星测高仪推断佛罗里达当前的体积运输

使用大约27ºN的海底电缆对佛罗里达电流（FC）体积运输进行近四个十年的准连续日测量，代表了现有边界电流的最长气候记录。鉴于此时间序列在监测大西洋经向翻转环流以及提高对区域天气，气候现象，沿海海平面和生态系统动态的了解和预测方面的巨大效用，因此正在努力建立合适的备用观察系统，以防将来电缆无法使用。这项研究通过建立横流海面高度梯度与从电缆测量和船舶截面得出的FC体积输运之间的关系，探索了自1993年以来沿轨卫星测高仪作为潜在电缆备份的实用性。我们发现，尽管时间分辨率较低，但卫星测高确实可以作为一个体面但有限的备用观测系统。从卫星测高仪推断出的FC传输捕获了在同时进行的电缆估计中观测到的大约60％的变异性，并且测高仪衍生的传输的估计误差线大于电缆传输的误差线（2.1 Sv对1.5 Sv）。但是，我们证明，卫星测高法很好地再现了FC传输的季节，季节内和年际变化，以及极端天气事件（例如热带风暴和飓风）中的大型运输异常。可以实时提供基于高度的传输，可以满足填补电缆记录中的数据空白并随时间评估其质量的需求。