The Deflection and Division of an Oceanic Baroclinic Jet by a Coastal Boundary: A Case Study in the Alboran Sea
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Authors
Viúdez, Álvaro
Haney, Robert L.
Vázquez-Cuervo, Jorge
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
1998-02
Date
February 1998
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Language
Abstract
An oceanic baroclinic jet impinging on a coastal boundary represents a particular type of ocean–coast inter- action. This specific oceanographic phenomenon is an example of the stagnation in line flows occurring in fluid dynamics with three additional features: rotation, stratification, and a sloping boundary. In this study the authors describe the density, vorticity, and deformation characteristics of an oceanic jet impinging on a sloping boundary. The case study corresponds to the impinging process of the Atlantic jet at the African coast (Alboran Sea). In the impinging region, the acceleration field is divergent related to the fact that the magnitude of the deformation is larger than the magnitude of the rotation. It is also found that the stagnation streamsurface does not lie in a vertical plane but tilts in the opposite direction to the tilt of the isopycnals. The flow upstream of the stagnation point is characterized by backing, speed convergence, diffluence, and negative streamwise vorticity. The flow past the stagnation point is characterized by veering, speed divergence, confluence, and positive streamwise vorticity. The current can only be considered irrotational in a narrow part of the impinging region.
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Meteorology
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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NPS Report Number
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Format
20 p.
Citation
Viúdez, Álvaro, Robert L. Haney, and Jorge Vázquez-Cuervo. "The deflection and division of an oceanic baroclinic jet by a coastal boundary: a case study in the Alboran Sea." Journal of physical oceanography 28.2 (1998): 289-308.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.