Topographic Influences in the California Current System
Abstract
A ten-level primitive equation numerical model is used to study the influence of the ocean bottom topography in the California Current System. Five different numerical experiments were integrated for 40 days after being initialized with a baroclinic along shore coastal jet representative of the observed coastal jet. By comparison with a flat bottom case, in Experiments 1 and 3, in which the topographic slopes face westward or northward, the topography appears to have stabilizing influences on the mean flow. In experiments 2 and 4, in which the topographic slopes face southward, the topographic beta-effect appears to be strong enough so that these two cases have already reached a quasi-steady state by 40 days. This is because in Experiment 2 and 4 the long, nondispersive topographic Rossby waves are effective at transporting the eddy energy away from the source region near the coast. The resulting new mean flow appears to be stable. Keywords: Ocean currents; Ocean models; Water flow; Jet flow; Escarpments; Slopes; Longshore currents.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA176586
Entities
People
- Ching-yin Chen
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School