Altimetric data, climatological hydrological data, and numerical model results are compared over the tropical Atlantic Ocean between November 1986 and November 1988. All reproduce the seasonal cycle of the dynamic topography rather well, and the agreement is particularly good between altimetry and the primitive equation model. The study of the 1986--1988 period reveals the intearnnual events evidenced by both the altimetry and the models, especially during spring 1988 in the Gulf of Guinea. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992