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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...