A Note on Coastally Trapped Waves Generated by the Wind at the Northern Bight of Panama

Abstract

An operational version of the Navy Layered Ocean Model is used to study the generation of a coastally trapped wave forced by a strong and intermittent wind event at the Northern Bight of Panama. This study identifies the winds at the Northern Bight of Panama as a new source for the generation of coastally trapped waves along the west coast of the North American continent. The results indicate that after its generation, the wave propagated poleward increasing the sea level > 10 cm, producing surface currents > 50 cm/s, and traveling > 1200 km. The generation and existence of the coastally trapped wave and the model results are validated with sea surface height coastal tide gauge observations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA484935

Entities

People

  • Edward Joseph Metzger
  • Luis Zamudio
  • Patrick J. Hogan

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Barometric Pressure
  • California
  • Central America
  • Continents
  • Costa Rica
  • Demographic Cohorts
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Frequency Bands
  • Geography
  • Military Research
  • North America
  • Observation
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Sea Level
  • Sea Surface Temperature
  • Surface Temperature

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Coastal Oceanography