The Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST) program conducted an
interdisciplinary study of coastal upwelling off central Oregon during summer 2001.
Two intensive field efforts during May–June and August 2001 were coordinated with
ocean circulation, ecosystem, and atmospheric modeling of the region. A primary
goal was to contrast the...
In the northern California Current, the onset of the 2005
upwelling season was five weeks later than usual, and well established
upwelling with a cold surface signature did not
occur until about seven weeks after this. As part of the joint
US-Canada Pacific hake survey, from 14–16 July 2005 we...
The seasonal cycle of the near-surface circulation off central Chile was analyzed using satellite altimetry and an oceanic model. To evaluate the role of the wind stress curl on the circulation we performed two identical simulations except for the wind-forcing: the "control run" used long-term monthly mean wind stress and...
Equatorward velocities in the upwelling jet of the northern California Current were 0.05–0.06 m s¯¹ faster in spring and summer 2002 than on average over 1998–2002. This result is based on a five-year data set of surface drifters released across the continental margin off central Oregon (44.65°N) during April and...
Climate models predict a decrease in oceanic dissolved oxygen and a thickening of the oxygen minimum zone, associated with global warming. Comprehensive observational analyses of oxygen decline are challenging, given generally sparse historical data. The Newport hydrographic (NH) line off central Oregon is one of the few locations in the...
Connectivity and larval dispersal is explored off the Oregon coast during the summer upwelling season of 2001 using numerical ocean circulation simulations. The study region, with strong wind-driven currents and variable topography, is modeled using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) forced by the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System....
From mid-May to August 2011, extreme runoff in the Columbia River ranged from 14,000 to over 17,000 m³/s, more than two standard deviations above the mean for this period. The extreme runoff was the direct result of both melting of anomalously high snowpack and rainfall associated with the 2010–2011 La Niña....
Data from Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellites are used to study the seasonal evolution of
temperature fronts in the northern California Current
System (CCS), focusing on the interactions with
topographic features. Fronts first appear close to the coast
in response to upwelling winds, moving offshore with the
continuous input of energy...
During summer 2001, high-resolution hydrographic, velocity, and bio-optical surveys
were conducted over Heceta Bank off central Oregon. North of the bank, upwelling
over simple bottom topography exhibited a classic response with a midshelf, baroclinic
coastal jet and upwelled isopycnals. The coastal upwelling jet follows the bank
topography as it widens...
A fluorescent dye tracer was injected into the
pycnocline on the Oregon shelf at a depth of 9–10 m. It
spread rapidly cross-shelf as two distinct layers, one above
the other in the water column, split by interleaving dye-free
water. The vertical scale of these layers, and associated
density steps,...