Oceanic Spatio‐Temporal Patterns of Vertical Velocities in the Cape Basin and Agulhas Current Retroflection From Two Years of SWOT Altimetry

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Abstract The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite provides a groundbreaking view of sea surface height (SSH) across a 120‐km‐wide swath (20‐km nadir gap), opening new opportunities to reconstruct vertical velocities . Vertical motions play a central role in redistributing properties, influencing climate and ecosystems. Using the effective surface quasigeostrophic framework in the eddy‐rich Agulhas Current Retroflection region, we reconstruct down to 1,000 m. We assess its realism against the 1/60 (∼2 km) INALT60 ocean model, finding a spatial correlation of 0.6. SWOT‐derived reveal pronounced high‐frequency variability, with events lasting several days to one week during which variance more than doubles. The Agulhas Retroflection emerges as a hotspot of enhanced (∼300 m ), driven by strong horizontal strain. This work provides the first quantitative reconstruction of from SWOT in the region and highlights the mission's potential to quantify vertical exchanges linking the ocean surface and interior.

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