The connectivity among straits of the northwest Pacific marginal seas is investigated with a primitive-equation ocean circulation model simulated for 10 years from 1994 to 2003. Over the simulation interval the temporal and spatial means and variations of the model sea surface temperature are comparable to those of the satellite...
We discuss connections between inner‐shelf and mid‐shelf circulation near Point Conception, California, as well as the wind forcing of inner‐shelf circulation. Point Conception marks the southern edge of a major upwelling zone that extends from Oregon to central California. The coastline makes a sharp eastward turn at Point Conception, and...
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....
Moored observations are used to investigate the seasonal change in vertical structure of the cross-shelf
circulation at a midshelf location in the northern California Current System. A streamwise–normal coordinate
system is employed to eliminate meander- and eddy-induced biases in the cross-shelf flow that are unaccounted
for with an alternative, commonly...
Month-long simulations using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric
Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) with a horizontal resolution of 9 km have been used to investigate
perturbations of topographically forced wind stress and wind stress curl during upwelling-favorable winds along
the California and Baja California coasts during June 1999....
Large rivers represent gateways for the transport of
terrigenous and anthropogenic material to the coastal ocean.
Here we document a ∼700 km2 recirculation or bulge associated
with the Columbia River plume that retains recently discharged
river water sufficiently to create a regional bioreactor.
Fueled by a fluvial nitrate source, this...
River Influences on Shelf Ecosystems (RISE) is the first comprehensive
interdisciplinary study of the rates and dynamics governing the mixing of river and coastal
waters in an eastern boundary current system, as well as the effects of the resultant plume
on phytoplankton standing stocks, growth and grazing rates, and community...
The northern California Current System is impacted by two primary freshwater
sources: the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Columbia River. The Columbia is frequently
bidirectional in summer, with branches both north and south of the river mouth
simultaneously. We describe the interaction of these two warm Columbia plumes...
The thermal properties of sediment and the albedo are critical in calculating the heat
flux of a tidal flat. However, they are not well known because of the difficulties of
sampling and observing tidal flats. We use extensive field observations of a macrotidal flat
on the western coast of Korea...
The coastal circulation in the Santa Barbara Channel (SBC) and the southern central
California shelf is described in terms of three characteristic flow patterns. The upwelling
pattern consists of a prevailing equatorward flow at the surface and at 45 m depth, except in
the area immediately adjacent to the mainland...
Along- and cross-shelf correlation scales of subtidal cross-shelf (u) and alongshelf
(ν) velocities are estimated using moored records from several field programs over
the northern California shelf. Over record lengths of 4-6 months, along-shelf correlation
scales of ν are greater than maximum mooring separations (60 km). In the cross-shelf
direction...
In north and central California, equatorward winds drive equatorward flows
and the upwelling of cold dense water over the shelf during the midspring and summer
upwelling season. When the winds temporarily weaken, the upwelling flows between
Point Reyes and Point Arena ‘‘relax,’’ becoming strongly poleward over the shelf.
Analytical and...
The near-surface circulation in the Santa Barbara Channel and off the coast of central and southern California is described based on 20 releases of drifters
drogued 1 m beneath the surface from 12 sites within the channel at bimonthly
intervals. This description includes small-scale features of the circulation which are...
Argos-tracked drifters are used to study the near-surface circulation in
the Santa Barbara Channel. The mean consists of a cyclonic cell in the western
Santa Barbara Channel with weaker flow in the eastern Channel. Drifter mean
velocities agree well with record means from near-surface current meters. At
the eastern entrance...
Realistic hindcast of the Columbia River estuarine-plume-shelf circulation in summer
2004 using the Regional Ocean Modeling System nested within the Navy Coastal Ocean
Model (NCOM) is quantitatively evaluated with an extensive set of observations. The
model has about equal skill at tidal and subtidal properties. Tidal circulation and water
properties...
Heat and salt balances are estimated over the northern California shelf from
early December 1988 through late February 1989 (winter) and from early March
through early May 1989 (spring) from moored meteorological and oceanographic time
series taken in 93 m of water 6.3 km from the coast. We find a...