Waves and Circulation Driven by Oscillatory Winds in an Idealized Ocean Basin,
Abstract
We have examined, via direct numerical integration, the transient and rectified response of a flat-bottomed barotropic ocean to a spatially localized oscillatory wind-stress pattern. These experiments exemplify in many respects the dynamics which drive the deep motion in recent eddy-resolving ocean circulation studies (e.g., Holland and Rhines, 1980), and may be contrasted with the results of Pedlosky (1965) and Veronis (1966) for spatially broad, time-dependent forcing. By considering doubly re-entrant (periodic) and closed basin geometries, the structure and magnitude of the induced circulation is shown to depend most critically on the form of the mean quasi-geostrophic contours (which are free in the periodic geometry yet blocked in the closed basin). In both situations, however, the forced primary wave field may usefully be understood by appeal to the radiation pattern of a time-periodic Greens function and its image in the western boundary.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADP002650
Entities
People
- D. Haidvogel
- P. Rhines
Organizations
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution