Recent turbulence measurements over a small bank on the continental shelf off Oregon reveal a previously undetected site for intense mixing of the coastal ocean. The flow is hydraulically controlled and turbulence diffusivities over the bank are more than 100 times greater than estimates made on the shelf away from...
Several diagnoses of three-dimensional circulation, using density and velocity data from a high-resolution, upper-ocean SeaSoar and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) survey of a cyclonic jet meander and adjacent cyclonic eddy containing high Rossby number flow, are compared. The Q-vector form of the quasigeostrophic omega equation, two omega equations derived...
The most accurate determinations of the global ocean tides are currently based on altimeter measurements made by the Topex/Poseidon satellite. The error spectrum corresponding to the M₂ tidal solution is here estimated, primarily by inverse methods and secondarily by simple differencing in flatter than tidal signal spectrum, and it exceeds...
Observations of currents, hydrography, and turbulence provide unambiguous evidence for hydraulic control of flow over an isolated three-dimensional topographic feature on Oregon’s continental shelf. The flow becomes critical at the crest of the bank, forming a strong supercritical downslope flow in the lower layer. Farther downstream, internal hydraulic jumps form...
An error in the calculation of the baroclinic pressure gradient term in the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) was identified while modeling the M₂ tidal current near its critical latitude in the southern Weddell Sea. The error arises from the present calculation of density, which involves the subtraction of a background...
During the Internal Waves on the Continental Margin (IWAVES) field experiments of 1996 and 1997 off of Mission Beach, California (32.75° N), we observed energetic, dirunal-band motions across the entire study site in water depths ranging from 15 to 500 m and spanning a cross-shore distance of 15 km. The...
A computationally efficient relocatable system for generalized inverse (GI) modeling of barotropic ocean tides is described. The GI penalty functional is minimized using a representer method, which requires repeated solution of the forward and adjoint linearized shallow water equations (SWEs). To make representer computations efficient, the SWEs are solved in...
Observations of mixing over the continental slope using a towed body reveal a great lateral extent (several kilometers) of continuously turbulent fluid within a few hundred meters of the boundary at depth 1600 m. The largest turbulent dissipation rates were observed over a 5 km horizontal region near a slope...
Hydrographic observations made with an undulating vehicle carrying a CTD and concurrent shipboard ADCP velocity observations over a 12‐day period are combined to investigate vertical mixing and cross‐frontal fluxes on the Northern Flank of Georges Bank. The CTD density time series is analyzed to detect the presence of vertical overturns,...
During March–April 1999, 2 weeks of undulating CTD and shipboard acoustic
Doppler current profiler surveys revealed the variability of the intense internal tide on the
northern edge of Georges Bank. The nature of the internal tide was modulated by episodic
surface intrusions of cool, fresh Scotian Shelf Water (SSW), stratifying...
Measurements of tidal currents on the central Oregon shelf are available from several sources, including recent high frequency (HF) coastal radar and Acoustic Doppler Profiler (ADP) deployments, and historical current moorings. In this paper we use a generalized inverse (GI) approach to compare these data to, and then assimilate them...
The sensitivity of model-produced time-dependent wind-driven circulation on the
continental shelf to the turbulent closure scheme employed is studied with a twodimensional
approximation (variations across-shelf and in depth) using the Princeton
Ocean Model. The level 2.5 Mellor-Yamada closure (MY), k-ε closure, and K-Profile
Parameterization schemes are used to evaluate the...
Moored current measurements from the Oregon shelf
during 1998–2003 are used to estimate time series of
anomalous alongshore currents and pseudo-displacements,
after accounting for the mean and seasonal cycle. From
early January through mid-June, 2002, currents at 10 m
were anomalously strong toward the south by an average
12 cm/s,...
Tidal energy dissipation is estimated for eight semi‐diurnal and diurnal constituents using a global inverse solution constrained by TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data. Very similar spatial patterns are obtained for all semi‐diurnal constituents, with about one third of the total dissipation occurring in the deep ocean over rough topography. Maps for diurnal...
We give a detailed description of the semidiurnal-band current and temperature
variability observed during the Internal Waves on the Continental Margin (IWAVES) field
experiments of 1996 and 1997 off of Mission Beach, California. This variability was
dominated by the internal tide, and the structure of the internal tide on the...
New empirical estimates of the long-period fortnightly (Mf) tide obtained from TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) altimeter
data confirm significant basin-scale deviations from equilibrium. Elevations in the low-latitude Pacific
have reduced amplitude and lag those in the Atlantic by 308 or more. These interbasin amplitude and phase
variations are robust features that are...
A linearized baroclinic, spectral-in-time tidal inverse model has been developed for assimilation of surface currents from coast-based high-frequency (HF) radars. Representer functions obtained as a part of the generalized inverse solution show that for superinertial flows information from the surface velocity measurements propagates to depth along wave characteristics, allowing internal...
A sequence of three internal solitary waves of
elevation were observed propagating shoreward along a
near-bottom density interface over Oregon’s continental
shelf. These waves are highly turbulent and coincide with
enhanced optical backscatter, consistent with increased
suspended sediments in the bottom boundary layer. Nonlinear
solitary wave solutions are employed to...
Simultaneous visual and oceanographic surveys were conducted in the lower Bay of Fundy and in Roseway Basin of the SW Scotian Shelf during the summers of 1999 to 2001 to investigate the physical and biological oceanographic factors associated with North Atlantic right whale occurrence. Sightings of right whales were recorded...
This article analyzes the barotropic circulation in the Southwestern Atlantic Shelf using
a three-dimensional numerical model forced with winds and tides. South of 40°S, the shelf
circulation is dominated by the propagation of the semidiurnal tides. In this region the
diurnal tides are generally weak, except at the shelf edge...