HR: 14:45h
AN: OS53B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling Intense Near-Bottom Currents Along the Sigsbee Escarpment
AU: * Morey, S L
EM: morey@coaps.fsu.edu
AF: Center for Ocean - Atmospheric Prediction Studies, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2840, United States
AU: Dukhovskoy, D S
EM: ddmitry@coaps.fsu.edu
AF: Center for Ocean - Atmospheric Prediction Studies, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2840, United States
AU: Cooper, C
EM: cortcooper@chevron.com
AF: Chevron Energy Technology Co., 6001 Bollinger Canyon Rd, L4240, San Ramon, CA 94583, United States
AU: O'Brien, J J
EM: jim.obrien@coaps.fsu.edu
AF: Center for Ocean - Atmospheric Prediction Studies, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2840, United States
AB: The Sigsbee Escarpment in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico is a steep topographic feature found at depths between 1500m and 3000m depth, depending on location along the escarpment. Observations of intense (50- 100 cm/s) velocities near the ocean bottom over the escarpment have been linked with bottom-intensified Topographic Rossby Waves (TRWs). A modeling methodology has been developed for simulating these energetic bottom-intensified features along the Sigsbee Escarpment. A nested model domain with a horizontal resolution of approximately 800m and up to 80 vertical layers has been configured for the region. A generalized vertical coordinate system implemented in the Navy Coastal Ocean Model has been used to develop a "vanishing sigma" vertical coordinate system that permits accurate representation of bottom topography while reducing the slope of the vertical coordinate surfaces. The high-resolution model is nested within a 1/20° resolution Gulf of Mexico model so that linkages between the intense deep currents and the eddy field of the Gulf can be explored. A set of idealized model experiments demonstrates processes that can be responsible for the generation, propagation, and intensification of the TRWs.
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
DE: 4562 Topographic/bathymetric interactions
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly