Meandering of the coastal upwelling jet near Cape Mendocino
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Author
Fasciano, William Culp.
Date
1989Advisor
Ramp, Steven R.
Second Reader
Batteen, Mary L.
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Show full item recordAbstract
The physics of a rotating tank laboratory model, developed by Narimousa
and Maxworthy (1985) to simulate the dynamics of coastal upwelling, is tested
by applying the model to real ocean data from shipboard surveys in the Coaste1
Transition Zone off central California. The primary goal is to test the hypothesis
that flow over bottom topography, i.e., the Mendocino Ridge, is an important
mechanism for generating the meandering structure of the coastal upwelling jet.
More specifically, the goal is to test the model's ability to reproduce the offshore
and alongshore meandering length scales observed from satellite imagery and
maps of dynamic height.
Results show that the model incorrectly predicts the necessary conditions
for eddy shedding in areas where this phenomenon is observed. The prediction
criterion parameter (9.) is not considered physically meaningful. Evidence is
presented to show that the model significantly overestimates the Richardson
number along with offshore and alongshore meandering length scales of the
upwelling coastal jet. Some possible explanations for this are discussed.
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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.Collections
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