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• 1. [Article] The Hydraulics of an Evolving Upwelling Jet Flowing around a Cape

  Upwelling jets flow alongshore in approximate geostrophic balance with the onshore pressure gradient induced by coastal upwelling. Observations of such jets have shown that they often move offshore downstream ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The Hydraulics of an Evolving Upwelling Jet Flowing around a Cape Author: Barth, John A., Dale, Andrew C. Upwelling jets flow alongshore in approximate geostrophic balance with the onshore pressure gradient induced by coastal upwelling. Observations of such jets have shown that they often move offshore downstream of capes, leaving a pool of upwelled water inshore. Comparisons are made between this behavior and the hydraulic transition of a potential-vorticity-conserving coastal current as it passes a topographic anomaly at which it is exactly critical to long coastal-trapped waves. An analytic 1.5-layer model of coastal hydraulics with constant potential vorticity in each layer predicts flow fields (i.e., jet separation) in critical situations that resemble observations. When scales approximate Cape Blanco on the Oregon coast, separation occurs at a jet transport of around 0.76 × 10⁶ m³ s−¹, similar to observed transports. Time-dependent, semigeostrophic calculations suggest that, during an upwelling season, the jet would evolve from a weak flow, which was subcritical everywhere and symmetric about the cape, to an exactly critical state that made a transition from subcritical to supercritical structure at the head of the cape. The predicted flow field at critical transition consists of a narrow upwelling jet upstream of the cape that moves offshore and broadens at the cape. This critical state would be accompanied by a downstream jump back to subcritical conditions. Further upwelling-favorable winds would lead to transient waves that propagated upstream and downstream, modifying the upstream and downstream conditions and restoring criticality. Thus, the head of the cape exerts hydraulic control on the flow and prevents the jet transport from increasing above its critical level. Inherent in the hydraulic approach is the assumption that alongshore scales are large. For realistic alongshore scales, solutions modified by coastline curvature suggest that the convexity of the head of a cape slightly inhibits the transition to a strongly upwelled downstream state by increasing the required critical transport. In the presence of topographic features with finite alongshore scale, the hydraulic approach can be used to construct a flow field, although this flow field has an inherent error arising from the implicit assumptions regarding scales. Estimation of this error for topography representing Cape Blanco suggests that in places the cape is rather abrupt for hydraulic theory to be valid. Title: The Hydraulics of an Evolving Upwelling Jet Flowing around a Cape Author: Barth, John A., Dale, Andrew C. Upwelling jets flow alongshore in approximate geostrophic balance with the onshore pressure gradient induced by coastal upwelling. Observations of such jets have shown that they often move offshore downstream of capes, leaving a pool of upwelled water inshore. Comparisons are made between this behavior and the hydraulic transition of a potential-vorticity-conserving coastal current as it passes a topographic anomaly at which it is exactly critical to long coastal-trapped waves. An analytic 1.5-layer model of coastal hydraulics with constant potential vorticity in each layer predicts flow fields (i.e., jet separation) in critical situations that resemble observations. When scales approximate Cape Blanco on the Oregon coast, separation occurs at a jet transport of around 0.76 × 10⁶ m³ s−¹, similar to observed transports. Time-dependent, semigeostrophic calculations suggest that, during an upwelling season, the jet would evolve from a weak flow, which was subcritical everywhere and symmetric about the cape, to an exactly critical state that made a transition from subcritical to supercritical structure at the head of the cape. The predicted flow field at critical transition consists of a narrow upwelling jet upstream of the cape that moves offshore and broadens at the cape. This critical state would be accompanied by a downstream jump back to subcritical conditions. Further upwelling-favorable winds would lead to transient waves that propagated upstream and downstream, modifying the upstream and downstream conditions and restoring criticality. Thus, the head of the cape exerts hydraulic control on the flow and prevents the jet transport from increasing above its critical level. Inherent in the hydraulic approach is the assumption that alongshore scales are large. For realistic alongshore scales, solutions modified by coastline curvature suggest that the convexity of the head of a cape slightly inhibits the transition to a strongly upwelled downstream state by increasing the required critical transport. In the presence of topographic features with finite alongshore scale, the hydraulic approach can be used to construct a flow field, although this flow field has an inherent error arising from the implicit assumptions regarding scales. Estimation of this error for topography representing Cape Blanco suggests that in places the cape is rather abrupt for hydraulic theory to be valid. Close

• 2. [Article] The front on the northern flank of Georges Bank in spring : 1. tidal and subtidal variability

  copyrighted by American Geophysical Union

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The front on the northern flank of Georges Bank in spring : 1. tidal and subtidal variability Author: Hebert, Dave, Dale, Andrew C., Barth, John A., Ullman, David S. copyrighted by American Geophysical Union Title: The front on the northern flank of Georges Bank in spring : 1. tidal and subtidal variability Author: Hebert, Dave, Dale, Andrew C., Barth, John A., Ullman, David S. copyrighted by American Geophysical Union Close

• 3. [Article] Direct Observations of Along-Isopycnal Upwelling and Diapycnal Velocity at a Shelfbreak Front

  By mapping the three-dimensional density field while simultaneously tracking a subsurface, isopycnal float, direct observations of upwelling along a shelfbreak front were made on the southern flank of ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Direct Observations of Along-Isopycnal Upwelling and Diapycnal Velocity at a Shelfbreak Front Author: Hebert, Dave, Dale, Andrew C., Barth, John A., Ullman, David S. By mapping the three-dimensional density field while simultaneously tracking a subsurface, isopycnal float, direct observations of upwelling along a shelfbreak front were made on the southern flank of Georges Bank. The thermohaline and bio-optical fields were mapped using a towed undulating vehicle, and horizontal velocity was measured with a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler. A subsurface isopycnal float capable of measuring diapycnal flow past the float was acoustically tracked from the ship. The float was released near the foot of the shelfbreak front (95–100-m isobath) and moved 15 km seaward as it rose from 80 to 50 m along the sloping frontal isopycnals over a 2-day deployment. The float's average westward velocity was 0.09 m s⁻¹, while a drifter drogued at 15 m released at the same location moved westward essentially alongfront at 0.18 m s⁻¹. The float measured strong downward vertical velocities (in excess of 0.02 m s−¹) associated with propagation of internal tidal solibores in the onbank direction from their formation near the shelf break. The float measured large upward vertical velocities (in excess of 0.001 m s⁻¹ 100 m day⁻¹) as the pycnocline rebounded adiabatically after the passage of the internal tide solibore. The directly measured mean along-isopycnal vertical velocity was 17.5 m day⁻¹. Intense mixing events lasting up to 2 hours were observed in the shelfbreak front at the boundary between cold, fresh shelf water and warm, salty slope water. Diapycnal velocities of up to 3 × 10⁻³ m s⁻¹ were measured, implying a diapycnal thermal diffusivity as large as 10⁻² m2 s⁻¹, indicative of strong mixing events in this coastal front. Title: Direct Observations of Along-Isopycnal Upwelling and Diapycnal Velocity at a Shelfbreak Front Author: Hebert, Dave, Dale, Andrew C., Barth, John A., Ullman, David S. By mapping the three-dimensional density field while simultaneously tracking a subsurface, isopycnal float, direct observations of upwelling along a shelfbreak front were made on the southern flank of Georges Bank. The thermohaline and bio-optical fields were mapped using a towed undulating vehicle, and horizontal velocity was measured with a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler. A subsurface isopycnal float capable of measuring diapycnal flow past the float was acoustically tracked from the ship. The float was released near the foot of the shelfbreak front (95–100-m isobath) and moved 15 km seaward as it rose from 80 to 50 m along the sloping frontal isopycnals over a 2-day deployment. The float's average westward velocity was 0.09 m s⁻¹, while a drifter drogued at 15 m released at the same location moved westward essentially alongfront at 0.18 m s⁻¹. The float measured strong downward vertical velocities (in excess of 0.02 m s−¹) associated with propagation of internal tidal solibores in the onbank direction from their formation near the shelf break. The float measured large upward vertical velocities (in excess of 0.001 m s⁻¹ 100 m day⁻¹) as the pycnocline rebounded adiabatically after the passage of the internal tide solibore. The directly measured mean along-isopycnal vertical velocity was 17.5 m day⁻¹. Intense mixing events lasting up to 2 hours were observed in the shelfbreak front at the boundary between cold, fresh shelf water and warm, salty slope water. Diapycnal velocities of up to 3 × 10⁻³ m s⁻¹ were measured, implying a diapycnal thermal diffusivity as large as 10⁻² m2 s⁻¹, indicative of strong mixing events in this coastal front. Close