HR: 16:00h
AN: OS52I-07    [PDF]
TI: Numerical Modeling of Wind-driven Flow on the Northern California Shelf
AU: * Kuebel Cervantes, B T
EM: bkuebel@coas.oregonstate.edu
AF: College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences Oregon State University, 104 Ocean Admin Building, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503 United States
AU: Allen, J S
EM: jallen@coas.oregonstate.edu
AF: College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences Oregon State University, 104 Ocean Admin Building, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503 United States
AB: The three-dimensional circulation on the continental shelf off northern California in the WEST (Wind Events and Shelf Transport) experiment region is studied using the primitive equation Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and a high-resolution limited-area domain. The simulations are performed with realistic topography and initial stratification. Forcing consists of measured wind stress and heat flux values obtained during summer 2001. A southward coastal upwelling jet of up to 1 ms$^{-1}$ is found during upwelling conditions and northward currents occur near the coast when upwelling winds relax. Flow near Pt. Reyes is complicated and the response to upwelling and relaxation north and south of Pt. Reyes is quite different. Analysis of term balances in the alongshelf momentum equation helps to quantify the importance of nonlinear advection throughout wind events. In addition to examining the response of the Eulerian fields to upwelling and relaxation conditions, we study the Lagrangian motion using two methods: calculation of fluid parcel trajectories and time evolution of three Lagrangian label fields. These results provide information that help address some of the WEST Program objectives, including questions about fluid retention around Pt. Reyes, the source and fate of upwelled water, and the variability of flow across the shelf.
DE: 4219 Continental shelf processes
DE: 4255 Numerical modeling
DE: 4279 Upwelling and convergences
DE: 4500 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 Ocean Sciences Meeting