Boundary Stress Over Rough Topography
Abstract
Our long-term goal is to understand the how bottom topography affects oceanic circulation and mixing. This is particularly important in coastal regions, where current interactions with rough slopes can force turbulent mixing and strong eddy and wave activity. In this project I focus on the following question: What scales of bottom roughness are most effective for the creation of bottom form stress? By bottom roughness I mean chiefly the little-explored scale range of bumps, hills, and ridges that are too large to be hidden within the turbulent bottom boundary layer, and yet which are smaller than about 2 km, so the overlying horizontal flow may have difficulty following isobaths. The most compelling regions to explore are the sloping edges of the ocean: continental slopes and shelves. There one may generate internal waves and internal tides, and the intersection of density surfaces with the slope can also give rise to horizontal vorticity-carrying eddies that are not wave-like, an effective but little-understood means to transmit momentum to the topography. While this study is aiming mainly at momentum issues, clearly it is related to turbulent mixing generated at the boundary, and I interact with several researchers who are looking at this.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA551750
Entities
People
- Parker MacCready
Organizations
- University of Washington