This mean circulation is not an immediate product of altimetry data. Those data give more the mean sea surface, which contains the marine geoid plus the sea elevation due to the mean oceanic circulation. So we have to combine altimetric data with others (in-situ, gravimetric satellites...), to precisely determine the geoid, and by substracting it, compute the mean circulation. This dynamic topography shows all the features of the general circulation with gyres and associated western boundary currents (e.g. Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, Brazil/Malvinas Confluence area).

The world's oceans are subjected to many movements and variations. These movements are a lot "livelier" in some regions than others, chiefly in the strongest currents near the western seaboard of the oceans, such as the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Malvinas Current in the South Atlantic, the Kuroshio Current near Japan, and the Agulhas Current in the Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar. The strong variations in these zones are caused by intense eddying generated by instabilities in these powerful ocean currents. Sea level variations in the vicinity of these currents, caused by eddies tens or hundreds of kilometers across, can be as much as 30 centimeters. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is another highly energetic current unbounded by any continent.

On the other hand, there are zones on either side of the Equator that hardly vary at all. Other intermediate zones exhibit phenomena that are more intermittent than ocean currents. The El Niño phenomenon in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean is a good example.

Satellites provide a global picture spanning several years to help us monitor these ocean variations more closely.