Journal of Physical Oceanography back issues from November 2002:
Phase distribution of small-scale ocean surface roughness
Nov 01, 2002; ... Phase Distribution of Small-Scale Ocean Surface Roughness* ABSTRACT Remote sensing is becoming an important tool for oceanographic research. As the resolution of remote sensors is becoming comparable to the wavelength of dominant ocean surface waves, the usual assumption of ...
Observations of enhanced diapycnal mixing near the Hawaiian ridge
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Profiles of potential density obtained from CTD casts at two stations at different distances from the Hawaiian ridge are examined for evidence of diapycnal turbulent mixing as indicated by density inversions and internal-- wave vertical strain. Results from independent casts ...
Structure and flow-induced variability of the subtidal salinity field in northern San Francisco Bay
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The structure of the salinity field in northern San Francisco Bay and how it is affected by freshwater flow are discussed. Two datasets are examined: the first is 23 years of daily salinity data taken by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation along the axis of northern San Francisco ...
Formation of Southern Hemisphere thermocline waters: Water mass conversion and subduction
Nov 01, 2002; ... Formation of Southern Hemisphere Thermocline Waters: Water Mass Conversion and Subduction* ABSTRACT The ventilation of the permanent thermocline of the Southern Hemisphere gyres is quantified using climatological and synoptic observational data. Ventilation is estimated with ...
Modeling the high-frequency component of arctic sea ice drift and deformation
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Buoy observations of sea ice drift show that sea ice motion and deformation contain substantial high-frequency variability at subdaily timescales. However, numerical simulations of the sea ice dynamics normally do not include processes on such short timescales. Instead, by ...
Drag coefficients with fetch-limited wind waves
Nov 01, 2002; ... Drag Coefficients with Fetch-Limited Wind Waves* ABSTRACT Air-sea fluxes of momentum and heat were measured simultaneously with surface wind waves and nearsurface currents in mid Chesapeake Bay during summer 1998 under low wind conditions. The data were collected using a Gill ...
Resistance of a coherent vortex to a vertical shear
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The authors study the splitting of a coherent vortex by a large-scale baroclinic background current. A criterion for the splitting of the vortex is defined, and the process is then studied numerically and analytically in a 2 1/2-- layer reduced-gravity model in which the vortex ...
Enhancement of wind-driven upwelling and downwelling by alongshore bathymetric variability
Nov 01, 2002; ... Enhancement of Wind-Driven Upwelling and Downwelling by Alongshore Bathymetric Variability* ABSTRACT Steady wind-driven flow along a shelf of changing width is described with a frictional barotropic model valid in the limit of small Rossby and Burger number. In these limits, an ...
Tide-induced sediment resuspension and the bottom boundary layer in an idealized estuary with a muddy bed
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Sediment transport and bottom boundary layer (BBL) in an idealized estuary with a muddy bed were studied by numerical simulations. The focus was placed on description and prediction of the dynamics of nepheloid layer (a fluid-mud layer) developed in the estuary because of the ...
Drifter behavior on the Oregon-Washington shelf during downwelling-favorable winds
Nov 01, 2002; ... Drifter Behavior on the Oregon-Washington Shelf during Downwelling-Favorable Winds* ABSTRACT Drifters released offshore of Oregon during predominantly downwelling favorable alongshore winds during three different deployments (October 1994, January 1998, and September 1998) ...
Intense, variable mixing near the head of Monterey Submarine Canyon
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT A microstructure survey near the head of Monterey Submarine Canyon, the first in a canyon, confirmed earlier inferences that coastal submarine canyons are sites of intense mixing. The data collected during two weeks in August 1997 showed turbulent kinetic energy dissipation and ...
A modification of the Garrett-Munk internal wave spectrum
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The Garrett-Munk (GM) spectrum continues to be a useful description of the oceanic internal wave field However, there are several inconsistencies and ambiguities that make it difficult to use in comparing internal wave fields at different latitudes, stratifications, and water ...
Response of a simplified oceanic general circulation model to idealized NAO-like stochastic forcing
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The response of a simplified model of the subtropical and subpolar gyres to a mechanical stochastic forcing that mimics the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is studied. An internal damped mode of oscillation with a 22-24-yr period is found, with a maximum amplitude in the ...
Low-frequency pychocline depth variability at Ocean Weather Station P in the Northeast Pacific
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Low-frequency variability of the depth of the main pycnocline at Ocean Weather Station P and over the northeast Pacific is examined in terms of the one-dimensional response to local Ekman pumping according to the Hasselmann stochastic climate model. The model is forced with ...
Remote topographic forcing of a baroclinic western boundary current: An explanation for the Southern current and the pathway of the subtropical front east of New Zealand
Nov 01, 2002; ... Remote Topographic Forcing of a Baroclinic Western Boundary Current: An Explanation for the Southland Current and the Pathway of the Subtropical Front East of New Zealand* ABSTRACT The Southland Current is a western boundary current adjacent to the South Island of New Zealand ...
Scaling analysis for the interaction between a buoyant coastal current and the continental shelf: Experiments and observations
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT This paper addresses how the geometrical parameters (ambient ocean depth, H; bottom slope, alpha) of coastal bathymetry affect the evolution of buoyant coastal currents flowing over a sloping continental shelf. Scaling arguments are presented that show the coastal current ...
Reynolds stresses and secondary circulation in a stratified rotating shear flow
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT A transverse secondary circulation should result from vertical mixing of momentum in a stratified shear flow influenced by the earth's rotation. A rigidly mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler was deployed at the bottom of Juan de Fuca Strait, a stratified estuary on the ...
Jet drops produced by bubbles bursting at the surface of seawater
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Several empirical formulas were reported to describe the production of jet drops by bubbles bursting at the surface of seawater; they were, however, based on scanty data. Recent observations of Spiel have provided new data for intermediate-size bubbles; his results are further ...
Sensitivity of a model shelfbreak front to the parameterization of vertical mixing
Nov 01, 2002; ... Sensitivity of a Model Shelfbreak Front to the Parameterization of Vertical Mixing* ABSTRACT Recent observations have suggested that the trapped-front model of Chapman and Lentz is consistent with some aspects of the shelfbreak front in the Middle Atlantic Bight. The ...
Evidence of a barrier layer in the Sulu and Celebes seas
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Variability in the surface isothermal and mixed layers of the Sulu and Celebes Seas is examined using the conductivity-temperature-depth data from the Navy's Master Oceanographic Observational Data Set (MOODS). Vertical gradient is calculated to determine isothermal layer depth ...
Internal tides in the strait of Gibraltar
Nov 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Analysis of moored current measurements in the Strait of Gibraltar is provided here. The vertical internal displacements (double amplitudes) with a semidiurnal frequency are extremely large and sometimes exceed 200 m, It is found that these displacements are associated with ...