The four components of the long-term annual mean net surface heating of the tropical Pacific Ocean between 30°N and 40°S are calculated and portrayed. These flux elements were derived by using the bulk formulas and about 5 million marine weather reports for the years 1957–76. In addition to illustrating the...
A numerical model has been used to investigate the wind-driven circulation in a stratified basin of
moderate size, Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada. Two types of circulation are identified: "direct" circulations,
in which the current directions remain relatively constant and the mean circulation formed over
several days resembles the instantaneous circulation, and...
Past measurements off the coast of central Oregon and Washington have shown that the rapid change
from northward monthly mean winter winds to southward summer winds forces a "spring transition" of
the coastal ocean: sea levels and temperatures drop, and mean surface currents shift from northward to
southward. Current and...
Seasonal cycles of coastal wind stress, adjusted sea level (ASL), shelf currents, and water
temperatures off the west coast of North America (35°N to 48°N) are estimated by fitting annual and
semiannual harmonics to data from 1981-1983. Longer records (9-34 years) of monthly ASL indicate
that these two harmonics adequately...
We examine large-scale atmospheric behavior around the time of the spring and fall transitions in the coastal ocean off the west coast of North America. Records of adjusted sea level (ASL), coastal wind stress, sea level atmospheric pressure (SLP), and 500-mbar heights for the years 1971-1975 and 1980-1983 are analyzed....
A 5-year time series of coastal zone color scanner imagery (1980-1983, 1986) is used to examine
changes in the large-scale pattern of chlorophyll pigment concentration coincident with the spring
transition in winds and currents along the west coast of North America. The data show strong
interannual variability in the timing...
Satellite-derived pigment concentrations from the west coast time series (WCTS) are averaged into monthly mean fields over the California Current system (CCS) for the period July 1979 to June 1986. Errors caused by the scattering algorithm used in the WCTS are reduced by an empirical correction function, although winter values...
Previously published physical and biological data document a zonally oriented frontal region within the California Current system separating colder and more eutrophic water north of ≈33°N from warmer; more stratified, and oligotrophic water farther to the south. Satellite images of phytoplankton pigment from the coastal zone color scanner from 1979-1983...
We evaluate the method of estimating sea surface velocities from sequences of AVHRR and CZCS images using the maximum cross-correlation (MCC) technique. A set of synthetic images is created by advecting an AVHRR-SST field with a QG model velocity field. The MCC method of determining the sea surface velocities is...
Physical and biological fields in the coastal transition zone off northern California were measured during February, March, May and June 1987 in an extended alongshore region between 60 km and 150 km offshore. The spring transition, as seen in coastal sea level and winds, occurred in mid-March. Surface variability during...