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...
The stability of a coastal jet and front is investigated using the primitive
equations applied to a continuously stratified flow in geostrophic balance. A linear
stability analysis successfully explains the growth of two modes of instability with
distinctly different horizontal scales. A long-wavelength mode (fastest-growing
wavelength of 0(100 km)) is...
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....
Drifters released offshore of Oregon during predominantly downwelling favorable alongshore winds during three different deployments (October 1994, January 1998, and September 1998) display similar behavior: after being advected around in the offshore eddy field, they move onshore to a particular isobath and are advected poleward alongshore, without coming ashore. Numerical...
As part of an experiment to study wind-driven coastal circulation, 17 hydrographic
surveys of the middle to inner shelf region off the coast of Newport, OR (44.65°N, from
roughly the 90 m isobath to the 10 m isobath) were performed during Summer 1999
with a small, towed, undulating vehicle. The...
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...
We present velocity observations from a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on R/V Wecoma during cruise W0105c (23 May to 13 June 2001). The cruise was a component (Survey I) of the Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST) experiment. The ADCP was an RD Instruments hull-mounted 153.6-kHz narrowband...
Upwelling jets flow alongshore in approximate geostrophic balance with the onshore pressure gradient induced by coastal upwelling. Observations of such jets have shown that they often move offshore downstream of capes, leaving a pool of upwelled water inshore. Comparisons are made between this behavior and the hydraulic transition of a...
A high-resolution numerical model with idealized topography is used to investigate the degree to which a coastal upwelling jet separates from the shelf as it flows around a submarine bank depending on the wind strength and the horizontal scale of the bank. Experiments were run using several wind forcing magnitudes...
Semidiurnal velocity and density oscillations are examined over the mid- and inner continental shelf near Heceta Bank on the Oregon coast. Measurements from two long-term observation networks with sites on and off the submarine bank reveal that both baroclinic velocities and displacements are dominated by the first mode, with larger...