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...
Horizontal current measurements from an array of moored acoustic Doppler profilers are assimilated sequentially into a model of coastal wind-driven circulation off Oregon during the upwelling season of May–August 2001. Model results are compared against independent moored and ship survey data to document a positive effect of velocity data assimilation...
Varied observations over Oregon’s continental shelf illustrate the
beauty and complexity of geophysical flows in coastal waters. Rapid, creative, and
sometimes fortuitous sampling from ships and moorings has allowed detailed looks
at boundary layer processes, internal waves (some extremely nonlinear), and coastal
currents, including how they interact. These processes drive...
The Oregon Coastal Transition Zone (OCTZ) extends several hundred
kilometers offshore where shelf flows interact with the northern California Current. A
primitive-equation numerical ocean model is used to study the upwelling circulation in this
region from 1 May to 1 November 2001. This OCTZ model obtains initial and boundary
conditions...
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...
Time‐dependent, three‐dimensional, upwelling circulation on the continental shelf off the Oregon coast is studied using a primitive equation numerical model. A limited area domain with a high‐resolution curvilinear grid is utilized. The response of the coastal ocean to forcing by observed wind stress and heat flux during the summer 2001...
The upwelling-driven coastal jet off Oregon is in geostrophic balance to first order.
The accompanying thermal wind shear is stable to shear instability. Yet enhanced
turbulence is observed in the upwelling jet, typically as long, thin patches with horizontal
to vertical aspect ratios of 10² to 10³ (median value ~300)....
An optimal interpolation (OI) sequential algorithm is implemented for a three-dimensional primitive equation model to assimilate current measurements from acoustic Doppler profilers moored on the Oregon shelf as a part of the Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST) upwelling experiment (May–August 2001). A stationary estimate of the forecast error...