Observations from Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) biogeochemical profiling Argo floats are used to characterize the climatological seasonal cycles and drivers of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, pH, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the saturation state of aragonite at the surface and at...
Wave setup and swash statistics were calculated from 154 runup time series steep beach under incident waves varying from 0.4 to 4.0 m significant wave height. incident wave height, setup, swash height, and total runup (the sum of setup and were found to vary linearly with the surf zone similarity...
Current projections of the oceanic response to anthropogenic climate forcings are uncertain. Two key sources of these uncertainties are (1) structural errors in current Earth system models and (2) imperfect knowledge of model parameters. Ocean tracer observations have the potential to reduce these uncertainties. Previous studies typically consider each tracer...
We present the evolution of oceanographic conditions off the western coast of South America between 1996 and 1999, including the cold periods of 1996 and 1998–1999 and the 1997–1998 El Niño, using satellite observations of sea level, winds, sea surface temperature (SST), and chlorophyll concentration. Following a period of cold...
In a recent paper, Sandwell and Agreen [1984; hereafter SA]
presented figures of global seasonal wind speed and sea state
as measured by the GEOS 3 satellite altimeter. Since that
time, Chelton and McCabe [1985; hereafter CM] have found
that problems exist in the algorithms used to retrieve wind
speed...
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...
A three‐dimensional primitive‐equation model for application to the nearshore surf zone has been developed. This model, an extension of the Princeton Ocean Model (POM), predicts the wave‐averaged circulation forced by breaking waves. All of the features of the original POM are retained in the extended model so that applications can...
A data assimilation system (DAS) of the wind‐driven, mesoscale shelf circulation off the Oregon coast is developed. The DAS assimilates low‐pass filtered surface velocity measurements, obtained from land‐based high‐frequency coastal radar arrays, into a primitive equation coastal ocean model using a sequential optimal interpolation scheme. Inhomogeneous and anisotropic estimates of...
This is the second part of a modeling study of wind-forced flow on the continental shelf off northern California in the region (37°-40°N) of the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE). Gan and Allen [2002] analyzed the shelf flow response to idealized wind stress forcing in a process-oriented study. The study...
Several aspects of feedback mechanisms associated with surf zone sandbar response have been characterized using bathymetric surveys, sampled approximately monthly over a 16-year period at the Army Corps of Engineers' Field Research Facility (North Carolina). The measured bathymetry was alongshore averaged and modeled by the superposition of two Gaussian-shaped sandbars...
A hydrodynamic model incorporating a self‐consistent treatment of ocean self‐attraction and loading (SAL), and a physically based parameterization of internal tide (IT) drag, is used to assess how accurately barotropic tides can be modeled without benefit of data, and to explore tidal energetics in the last glacial maximum (LGM). M2...
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...
Analytical and numerical models are used to study the effects of a meridional ridge on the propagation of barotropic Rossby waves produced by distant wind stress forcing. The analytical model illustrates the qualitative aspects of the problem by solving a simplified form of the potential vorticity equation. The analytical results...
We present a modeling study of the upwelling ocean circulation off central Chile (34°–40°S). Using a primitive equation model, we make a numerical simulation of the ocean circulation for summer of 1993, a year characterized by moderate but persistent equatorward winds. The results indicate the formation of an eastern boundary...
The formation mechanisms and pathways of intermediate water in the Southern Ocean are analyzed from output of a high-resolution ocean general circulation model. Deep winter mixed layer formation in the Southern Ocean is diagnosed from the model results and is found to be mostly consistent with observations. Diapycnal water mass...
Meanders of the shelf break front in the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) during April and May of 1997 were associated with chlorophyll enhancement along a hydrographic and a topographic feature. The hydrographic feature was the surface outcrop of the front, which ranged from ~10 to >100 km seaward of the shelf...
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,...
We use the position fixes and temperature readings from 56 Tristar-II mixed-layer drifters, in conjunction with advanced very high resolution radiometer images, to provide a description of the mesoscale variability of the flows associated with cold-water filaments in the California Current system off northern California in July 1988. We find...
Satellite infrared imagery and coastal meteorological data for March 1984 through February 1985 are used to estimate the net annual surface heat flux for the northern Gulf of California. The average annual surface heat flux for the area north of Guaymas and Santa Rosalia is estimated to be +74 W...
Continuous records of upper water column (0–150 m) temperature profiles, spectral distribution of downwelling irradiance, and phytoplankton solar-induced fluorescence at 25 m depth were obtained during the inaugural deployment of the Hawaii Air-sea Logging Experiment, A Long-term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment (HALE ALOHA) mooring, near the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) Station...
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...
Three-component (NPZ), four-component (NPZD), and five-component (NNPZD) nitrogen-based ecosystem models are compared. The fixed points of the zerodimensional systems, with no spatial variation except light attenuation by water, are determined. A linear-stability analysis shows that unstable steady solutions exist for all three models. Time-periodic solutions are found in these regions....
A pair of high-resolution oceanographic surveys in March and April 1995 revealed a large and rapid transition from late winter to spring conditions in the coastal zone off central and southern California. These data are unique in capturing the detailed three-dimensional physical structure of and biological response to the spring...
In July 1993 we collected hydrographic data and information on chlorophyll distribution on the continental shelf north of Cape Hatteras and across the shelf break at Cape Hatteras. The data show that a warm, transparent mixed layer lies over much colder, euphotic, chlorophyll-rich bottom water on the shelf. This layer...
The location of the Antarctic Polar Front (PF) was mapped over a 7-year period (1987-1993) within images of satellite-deprived sea surface temperature. The mean path of the PF is strongly steered by the topographic features of the Southern Ocean. The topography places vorticity constraints on the dynamics of the PF...
Sequences of coastal zone color scanner (CZCS) images from the offshore region adjacent to Vancouver Island, Canada, have been analyzed to estimate the time rate of decorrelation of surface phytoplankton chlorophyll pigment patterns. In these high-latitude, high-pigment areas, CZCS-derived pigment estimates were lower than those obtained from ship samples by...
A Lagrangian drifter was deployed in a cold filament off northern California as part of the Coastal Transition Zone program. The drifter was equipped with an optical package (consisting of a spectroradiometer, a fluorometer, and a beam transmissometer) suspended at 8.5-m depth and a water sampler suspended at 16.3-m depth....
Basal melting of ice shelves around Antarctica contributes to formation of Antarctic Bottom Water and can affect global sea level by altering the offshore flow of grounded ice streams and glaciers. Tides influence ice shelf basal melt rate (w(b)) by contributing to ocean mixing and mean circulation as well as...
We have applied a normalized difference algorithm to 8 day composite chlorophyll-a (CHL) and fluorescence line height (FLH) imagery obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Aqua spacecraft in order to detect and monitor phytoplankton blooms in the Oregon coastal region. The resulting bloom products, termed CHL[subscript rel]...
Turbulence controls the composition of river plumes through mixing and alters the plume's trajectory by diffusing its momentum. While believed to play a crucial role in decelerating river-source waters, the turbulence stress in a near-field river plume has not previously been observationally quantified. In this study, finely resolved density, velocity,...
Macronutrients persist in the surface layer of the equatorial Pacific Ocean because the production of phytoplankton is limited; the nature of this limitation has yet to be resolved. Measurements of photosynthesis as a function of irradiance (P-I) provide information on the control of primary productivity, a question of great biogeochemical...
A drifter equipped with bio-optical sensors and an automated water sampler was deployed in the California Current as part of the coastal transition zone program to study the biological, chemical, and physical dynamics of the meandering filaments. During deployments in 1987 and 1988, measurements were made of fluorescence, downwelling irradiance,...
The impacts of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on Great Lakes ice cover were investigated using lake ice observations for winters 1963–2010 and National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis data. It is found that both NAO and ENSO have impacts on Great Lakes ice cover. The...
This paper examines the effect of “stencil width” on surface ocean geostrophic velocity and vorticity estimated from differentiating gridded satellite altimeter sea surface height products. In oceanographic applications, the value of the first derivative at a central grid point is generally obtained by differencing the sea surface heights at adjacent...
We undertook an interlaboratory comparison of techniques used to extract and analyze trapped gases in ice cores. The intercomparison included analyses of standard reference gases and samples of ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) site. Concentrations of CO₂, CH₄, the δ¹⁸O of O₂, the δ¹⁵N of N₂,...
The floating ice shelf of Petermann glacier interacts directly with the ocean and is thought to lose at least 80% of its mass through basal melting. Based on three opportunistic ocean surveys in Petermann Fjord we describe the basic oceanography: the circulation at the fjord mouth, the hydrographic structure beneath...
Time‐dependent buoyant plumes form at the outflow of tidally dominated estuaries. When estuary discharge velocity exceeds plume internal wave speed c, a sharp front forms at the plume’s leading edge that expands from the time‐dependent source. Using observations of the Columbia River tidal plume from multiple tidal cycles we characterize...
The method used to separate surface and internal tides ultimately defines properties such as internal‐tide generation and the depth structure of internal‐tide energy flux. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of several surface‐/internal‐tide decompositions over arbitrary topography. In all decompositions, surface‐tide velocity is expressed as the depth average of total...
Shoreward propagating, mode 2 nonlinear waves appear sporadically in mooring records obtained off the coast of New Jersey in the summer of 2006. Individual mode 2 packets were tracked between two moorings separated by 1 km; however, packets could not be tracked between moorings separated by greater distances from one...
Current projections of the oceanic response to anthropogenic climate forcings are uncertain. Two key sources of these uncertainties are (1) structural errors in current Earth system models and (2) imperfect knowledge of model parameters. Ocean tracer observations have the potential to reduce these uncertainties. Previous studies typically consider each tracer...
Current meter moorings maintained over the Oregon continental shelf in 1973 and 1975 clearly show the difference between winter and spring oceanographic regimes and the rapid transition between the regimes. In winter the mean alongshore current is northward at all depths and strongest near shore; there is no mean vertical...
Conductivity‐temperature‐depth surveys during 1988 encountered strong baroclinic jets that were evident in acoustic Doppler current profiler and hydrographic data. During June and July 1988 a filament with high surface nitrate, high chlorophyll, abundant populations of neritic centric diatoms, and higher rates of primary production was evident perpendicular to the coast...
Three upward looking acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) were deployed beneath meteorological buoys in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico, during winter 1988-1989. Hourly averaged wind speed data from the buoys and from ship when in the vicinity were compared with surface acoustic backscatter intensity recorded at the ADCPs. The backscatter...
For 74 days during the spring and summer upwelling seasons of 1981 and 1982, in conjunction with the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment, profiles of upper ocean currents were collected in the waters over the shelf and slope off northern California using a shipboard Doppler acoustic log. These measurements provide detailed...
Since the early surveys carried out by the Eastern Tropical Pacific (EASTROPIC) and Scripps Tuna Oceanographic Research (STOR) projects in the tropical Pacific off Mexico, the northerly winds which blow over the Gulf of Tehuantepec were described as an Important factor controlling the dynamics of this coastal ocean. In January-February...
This study examines the dependence of the computed drag coefficient on wind speed, stability, fetch, flux sampling problems, and method of calculation of the drag coefficient. The analysis is applied to data collected at a tower 2 km off the coast of Denmark during the Risø Air Sea Experiment (RASEX)....
This study surveys and evaluates similarity theory for estimating the sea-surface drag coefficient with the bulk aerodynamic method. The most commonly used formulations of the aerodynamic roughness length, required by similarity theory, are examined using data sets from four different field programs. These relationships include the Charnock formulation and the...
Shelf break conditions and alongshore flow off northwestern Australia are studied during the strongly evaporative conditions of austral winter 2003. Present results, along with those of previous authors, confirm that a poleward, fresh Leeuwin current core is normally found near the shelf break. Salinity increases alongshore toward the southwest. Although...
Observations of vertical temperature microstructure at ocean station P during the mixed layer experiment (Mile) indicate that the shape of the high-frequency temperature gradient spectrum depends on the relative strengths of turbulence and stratification. For low Cox number ((dT/dz)²)/ (dT/dz)²• the linear range of the Batchelor spectrum is not well...
A new method is presented for estimating the vertical turbulent heat flux at the bottom of the daily mixed layer from the temperature data in the mixed layer and net solar irradiance data at the sea surface. We assume that fluctuations in the divergence of advective heat flux have longer...
From measurements of the energy‐containing scales of turbulence in the ocean thermocline, two new formulations are examined: (1) an inviscid estimate for the viscous dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy and (2) a mixing length estimate for the turbulent heat flux. These formulations are tested using coincident measurements of the...
This paper presents a series of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) which are intended as a design study for a proposed array of instrumented moorings in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Fields of TOPEX/Poseidon sea surface height anomalies are subsampled with the goal being reconstruction of the original fields through the...
Temperature was observed in the upper 80 m by moored thermistor chains at three locations in Rockall Channel west of Scotland. Isotherms were interpolated, and a 1‐week period of exceptionally energetic tidal oscillations was analyzed. The moored array (horizontal separations ranging from 6 to 20 km) was used as an...
Several methods are developed for analyzing data containing a highly variable internal tide. In particular, the methods are aimed at the analysis of moored observations with relatively few measurements in the vertical. The analysis depends upon an "elliptical decomposition" that is a generalization of the familiar "rotary decomposition." The technique...
A model is developed to calculate the upper ocean internal wave spectrum as modified by the surface boundary and mixed layer. The Garrett‐Munk spectrum is assumed to describe the deep ocean wave field. The main effect of the surface and mixed layer is to align the vertical structure of the...
The spectral composition of internal gravity waves under the Arctic pack ice during the Arctic Internal Wave Experiment (AIWEX) was found to be strikingly different from observations at lower latitudes. Time series of vertical displacement were inferred from horizontal and vertical arrays of temperature and conductivity sensors. Frequency spectra indicate...
The dissipation of internal wave energy in the turbulent boundary layer under pack ice is determined using a time‐varying boundary layer model with an eddy coefficient closure scheme. The magnitude of the eddy coefficient is determined by the ice drift velocity, which is assumed greater than the rms water velocity...
Current and hydrographic observations from the Coastal Mixing and Optics experiment moored array, deployed from August 1996 through June 1997, are used to describe the velocity variability and evaluate the dynamics of circulation over the New England shelf on timescales ranging from a few days to several months. Subtidal (days...
Measurements of upper ocean shear made during the Mixed Layer Dynamics Experiment (MILDEX) provide evidence of large horizontal scale motion at near‐inertial frequency. The measurements consist of shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiles. Four large‐scale spatial surveys of 2–4 days duration were made by the R/V Wecoma as a set of...
The optical intensity signals from surf zone waves in a laboratory flume are analyzed using several different phase‐averaging techniques, and a methodology is developed for estimating wave roller lengths and local wave dissipation. The intensity signals (i.e., phase‐averaged intensity profiles) of individual breaking waves are compared with the wave profiles...
In this study, we use a time domain numerical model based on the fully nonlinear extended Boussinesq equations [Wei et al., 1995] to investigate surface wave transformation and breaking-induced nearshore circulation. The energy dissipation due to wave breaking is modeled by introducing an eddy viscosity term into the momentum equations,...
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...
Optical oceanography models of attenuation and scattering properties often contain simple spectral relationships. Electromagnetic theory, however, predicts fluctuations in the spectra of the attenuation coefficients and scattering properties of substances at wavelengths near an absorption peak. We have modeled these effects for phytoplankton using homogeneous, two‐layered, and three‐layered sphere models...
Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to determine the error in the inversion of backscattering from remotely sensed reflectance when geometrical shape factors of the light field are assumed to be unity. The results show that error in backscattering inversion can vary from a 40% overestimation to a 20% underestimation...
Two separate time series observations of light transmission in the bottom water on the Continental Rise off Nova Scotia show fluctuations of light transmission in a wide range, 0-50% transmission at λ = 660 nm. The range corresponds approximately to SPM concentrations of 12 mg/l to 150 μg/l. The former...
The relationships between beam attenuation, absorption, suspended particle concentration, size distribution and pigment content are examined for a region where the particle concentration and pigment maxima are widely separated. Mie scattering analyses are performed on this data to predict the profiles of backscattering. It was found that absorption and scattering...
Spectral attenuation and absorption coefficients of particulate matter and collocated hydrographic measurements were obtained in the Mid-Atlantic Bight during the fall of 1996 and the spring of 1997 as part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics experiment. Within the bottom boundary layer (BBL) the magnitude of the beam attenuation decreased...
Optical properties of dissolved (colored dissolved organic material (CDOM)) and particulate matter and hydrographic measurements were obtained at the Mid-Atlantic Bight during the fall of 1996 and the spring of 1997 as part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics experiment. To assess the temporal and spatial variability, time series were...
Measurements of cross-shore flow were made across the surf zone during a storm as a nearshore bar became better developed and migrated offshore. Measured infragravity band spectra were compared to synthetic spectra calculated numerically over the natural barred profile assuming a white run-up spectrum of leaky mode or high-mode edge...
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....
Long-term (>years) bathymetric data sets collected in six multiple near-shore sandbar systems were analyzed with complex empirical orthogonal function analysis to quantify intersite differences and similarities in cyclic offshore progressive bar behavior. The observations came from a 37-year annually sampled data set of four regions along the Dutch coast (spanning...
The wave-induced velocity field in the nearshore is composed of contributions from incident wind waves (f > 0.05 Hz), surface infragravity waves (f < 0.05 Hz, lkl < (σ²/gβ) and shear waves (f < 0.05 Hz, lkl > σ²/gβ), where ƒ is the frequency, σ = 2πf, k is the...
A form of the linear, inviscid shallow water wave equation which includes alongshore uniform, but cross-shore variable, longshore currents and bathymetry is presented. This formulation provides a continuum between gravity waves (either leaky or edge waves) on a longshore current, and the recently discovered shear waves. In this paper we...
This paper presents a comprehensive set of velocity and suspended sediment observations in the nearshore wave bottom boundary layer, collected during the Duck94 field experiment on the Outer Banks of the North Carolina coast. Cross-shore velocity measurements in the wave bottom boundary layer were made using five hot film anemometers,...
A new class of nearshore waves based on the shear instability of a steady longshore current is discussed. The dynamics depend on the conservation of potential vorticity but with the background vorticity field, traditionally the role of Coriolis in larger scale flows, supplied by the shear structure of the longshore...
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...
We measured iron concentrations off the Oregon coast in spring (May–June) and summer (August) of 2001 as part of the Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST) program. Dissolvable and total dissolvable iron levels in surface waters were generally higher in spring (mean of 2.1 and 33.9 nmol L¯¹, respectively)...
A series of satellite sea surface temperature (SST) intercomparison workshops were conducted under NASA sponsorship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Three different satellite data sets were compared with each other, with routinely collected ship data, and with climatology for the months of November 1979, December 1981, March 1982, and July...
The Kenyan-Tanzanian coastal region in the western Indian Ocean faces several environmental challenges including coral reef conservation, fisheries management, coastal erosion, and nearshore pollution. The region lacks hydrodynamic records and oceanographic studies at adequate spatial and temporal scales to provide information relevant to the local environmental issues. We have developed...
A new planktonic ecosystem model was constructed for the Eastern Bering Sea based on observations from the 2007–2010 BEST/BSIERP (Bering Ecosystem Study/Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program) field program. When run with forcing from a data-assimilative ice-ocean hindcast of 1971–2012, the model performs well against observations of spring bloom time...
urface wave transformation and the resulting nearshore circulation along a section of coast with strong alongshore bathymetric gradients outside the surf zone are modeled for a consecutive 4 week time period. The modeled hydrodynamics are compared to in situ measurements of waves and currents collected during the Nearshore Canyon Experiment...
Interest in understanding long-term coastal morphodynamics has recently increased as climate change impacts become perceptible and accelerated. Multiscale, behavior-oriented and process-based models, or hybrids of the two, are typically applied with deterministic approaches which require considerable computational effort. In order to reduce the computational cost of modeling large spatial and...
Two simplified ocean simulations are used to study circulation and transport within Nares Strait. The simulations are similar, except that one included a coupled sea ice model that effectively established a landfast ice cover throughout the simulation year. Comparison between the ocean-only and ocean-ice simulations reveals a systematic change in...
The influence of varying horizontal and vertical stratification in the upper layer ( inline image m) associated with riverine waters and seasonal atmospheric fluxes on coastal near-inertial currents is investigated with remotely sensed and in situ observations of surface and subsurface currents and realistic numerical model outputs off the coast...
The particle size distribution (PSD) is a critical aspect of the oceanic ecosystem. Local variability in the PSD can be indicative of shifts in microbial community structure and reveal patterns in cell growth and loss. The PSD also plays a central role in particle export by influencing settling speed. Satellite-based...
The Zanzibar Channel lies between the mainland of Tanzania and Zanzibar Island in the tropical western Indian Ocean, is about 100 km long, 40 km wide, and 40 m deep, and is essential to local socioeconomic activities. This paper presents a model of the seasonal and tidal dynamics of the...
We investigated 32 net primary productivity (NPP) models by assessing skills to reproduce integrated NPP in the Arctic Ocean. The models were provided with two sources each of surface chlorophyll-a concentration (chlorophyll), photosynthetically available radiation (PAR), sea surface temperature (SST), and mixed-layer depth (MLD). The models were most sensitive to...
A 2 week field experiment investigated the hydrodynamics of a strongly tidally forced tropical intertidal reef platform in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, where the spring tidal range exceeds 8 m. At this site, the flat and wide (∼1.4 km) reef platform is located slightly above mean sea level,...
A three-dimensional sea ice model is presented with resolved snow thickness variations and melt ponds. The model calculates heating from solar radiative transfer and simulates the formation and movement of brine/melt water through the ice system. Initialization for the model is based on observations of snow topography made during the...
The Southeast Pacific, which encompasses the coasts of Peru and Chile, is one of the world's most productive regions resulting principally from the upwelling of subsurface nutrient-rich waters. Over the satellite altimetry era, there have been numerous evidence that surface mesoscale eddies play an important role in the offshore transport...
Measurements of currents and turbulence beneath a geostationary ship in the equatorial Indian Ocean during a period of weak surface forcing revealed unexpectedly strong turbulence beneath the surface mixed layer. Coincident with the turbulence was a marked reduction of the current speeds registered by shipboard Doppler current profilers, and an...
During the summer of 2012, we used laser diffractometry to investigate the temporal and vertical variability of the particle size spectrum (1.25–100 µm in equivalent diameter) in the euphotic zone of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Particles measured with this optical method accounted for ∼40% of the particulate carbon stocks...
Altimeter sea surface height (SSH) fields are analyzed to define and discuss the seasonal circulation over the wide continental shelf in the SW Atlantic Ocean (27°–43°S) during 2001–2012. Seasonal variability is low south of the Rio de la Plata (RdlP), where winds and currents remain equatorward for most of the...
The present work characterizes the time-space scales of variability and forcing dependencies of a unique 26 year record of daily to hourly shoreline data from a steep beach at Duck, North Carolina. Shoreline positions over a 1500 m alongshore span were estimated using a new algorithm called ASLIM based on...
A study of the freshwater discharge into the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) has been carried out. Using available streamgage data, regression equations were developed for monthly flows. These equations express discharge as a function of basin physical characteristics such as area, mean elevation, and land cover, and of basin meteorological...
Total water levels (TWLs) within estuaries are influenced by tides, wind, offshore waves, and streamflow, all of which are uniquely affected by climate change. The magnitude of TWL associated with various return periods is relevant to understanding how the hydrodynamics of a bay or estuary may evolve under distinct climate...
Shipboard current measurements in the equatorial Indian Ocean in October and November of 2011 revealed oscillations in the meridional velocity with amplitude ~0.10 m/s. These were clearest in a layer extending from ~300 to 600 m depth and had periods near 3 weeks. Phase propagation was upward. Measurements from two...
Vegetation can protect communities by reducing nearshore wave height and altering sediment transport processes. However, quantitative approaches for evaluating the coastal protection services, or benefits, supplied by vegetation to people in a wide range of coastal environments are lacking. To begin to fill this knowledge gap, we propose an integrated...