Axial convergence in a well-mixed estuary     

R.A. Nunes  J.H. Simpson 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1985,20(5):637-649

Transverse secondary circulations involving surface convergence, observed in a well-mixed estuary in North Wales, are made visible by the collection of surface material along an axial line which extends continuously for many kilometres through the estuary. The circulation and axial convergence, however, are seen only during the flood phase of the tide and no similar behaviour has been observed during the ebb phase.Convergent circulations in the estuary are associated with small but steady transverse density gradients in the cross-section, produced by non-uniform advection of the longitudinal gradient through the channel. A diagnostic model, using measured mean distributions of cross-sectional density, indicates surface transverse velocities (～0.1 ms^?1) similar to those observed in the estuary. The model further predicts appreciable transverse divergent currents at a fractional depth of 0.75: a prediction which has been tested in the estuary using a vertical array of accurately resolving current direction indicators.  相似文献   

Southern elephant seal trajectories, fronts and eddies in the Brazil/Malvinas Confluence     

Claudio Campagna  Alberto R. Piola  Maria Rosa Marin  Mirtha Lewis  Teresita Fernndez 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2006,53(12):1907-1924

This study describes the association between transient, mesoscale hydrographic features along the axis of the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence, in the SW Atlantic, and the foraging behavior of 2–3-year-old (focal) juvenile southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, from Península Valdés, Argentina. Departing from the dominant pattern of foraging on predictable bathymetric fronts on the Patagonian shelf and slope, three females out of 12 satellite-tracked juveniles remained at the edge of young warm-core eddies and near the outer core of cold-core eddies, coinciding with the most productive areas of these temperature fronts. Seal trajectories along high-temperature gradients were always consistent with the speed and direction of surface currents inferred from the temperature distribution and confirmed by surface drifters. Movements of foraging seals were compared with those of surface drifters, coinciding in time and space and yielding independent and consistent data on regional water circulation parameters. The diving pattern recorded for one focal seal yielded shallower dives and a loose diel pattern in the eddy, and a marked diurnal cycle compatible with foraging on vertically migrating prey in the cold waters of the Malvinas Current. Pre-reproductive females that use the mesoscale fronts of the Argentine Basin as an alternative foraging area would benefit from lower competition with more experienced seals and with other top predators that reproduce along the coast of Patagonia.  相似文献   

Hydrography and phytoplankton of waters off south-west Ireland     

R. Raine  J. O'Mahony  T. McMahon  C. Roden 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1990,30(6)

Distributions of physical, chemical and biological characteristics were recorded for coastal waters off south-west Ireland during the summers of 1985–1987. A number of thermal fronts were identified from both shipboard measurements and satellite imagery. Upwelling was shown to be an important process in the area and enhanced phytoplankton biomass and productivity were associated with areas of upwelling and the fronts. Phytoplankton species composition, although varying between cruises, was associated with differences in hydrographic features.  相似文献   

珠江口伶仃洋锋的类别及其对沉积的影响   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

应秩甫 《热带海洋学报》1994,(2)

根据近年在珠江口伶仃洋的观测资料，对比国外有关河口锋的定义，归纳了伶仃洋内几种锋的现象，计有潮侵锋、岬角锋及湖水退急时的浅滩锋等。解释了锋生的原因与潮汐进退，特别与随潮入侵的咸水关系。文中也探讨了这些锋对沉积环境的影响，认为它是陆架水入侵河口地区的一种不容忽视的沉积动力过程。  相似文献   

New models for the exploration of biological processes at fronts     

Franks  Peter J. S. 《ICES Journal of Marine Science》1997,54(2):161-167

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The influence of the coast on the dynamics of upwelling fronts: Part II. Numerical simulations     

Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot  Vincent Echevin 《Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans》2002,36(1-3)

We investigated the dynamics of upwelling fronts near a coast. This work was first motivated by laboratory experiments [Bouruet-Aubertot, Linden, Dyn. Atmos. Oceans, 2002] in which the front is produced by the adjustment of a buoyant fluid initially confined within a bottomless cylinder. It was shown that cyclonic eddies consisting of coastal waters are enhanced when the front is unstable near the coast (the outer vertical boundary). The purpose of this paper is to provide further insights into this process. We reproduced the experimental configuration using a three-dimensional model of the primitive equations. We first show that for coastal fronts more potential energy, in terms of the maximum available potential energy, is released than for open-ocean fronts. Therefore, waves of larger amplitude are generated during the adjustment and the mean flow that establishes has a higher kinetic energy in the former case. Then as baroclinic instability starts and wave crests reach the boundary, cyclonic eddies are enhanced as in the laboratory experiments and in a similar way. However, in contrast to the laboratory experiments, offshore advection of cyclonic eddies can occur in two stages, depending on the spatial organization of the baroclinic wave. When the baroclinic wave consists of the sum of different modes and is thus highly asymmetric, the offshore advection of cyclonic eddies occurs just after their enhancement at the boundary, as in the laboratory experiments. By contrast, when a single-mode baroclinic wave develops, neighboring cyclonic eddies first merge before being advected offshore. Very different behavior is observed for open-ocean fronts. First a mixed baroclinic–barotropic instability grows. Then the eddies transfer their energy to the mean flow and the barotropic and baroclinic instabilities start again. An excellent agreement is obtained with the main result obtained in the laboratory experiments: the ratio between growth rates of surface cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity increases as the instability develops nearer to the coast.  相似文献   

Planetons: An example of large amplitude solitary waves     

William K. Dewar 《地球物理与天体物理流体动力学》2013,107(1-4):53-85

Abstract

The term ‘‘solitary wave'’ is usually used to denote a steadily propagating permanent form solution of a nonlinear wave equation, with the permanency arising from a balance between steepening and dispersive tendencies. It is known that large-scale thermal anomalies in the ocean are subject to a steepening mechanism driven by the beta effect, while at the smaller deformation scale, such phenomena are highly dispersive. It is shown here that the evolution of a physical system subject to both effects is governed by the ‘‘frontal semi-geostrophic equation'’ (FSGE), which is valid for large amplitude thermocline disturbances. Solitary wave solutions of the FSGE (here named planetons) are calculated and their properties are described with a view towards examining the behavior of finite amplitude solitary waves. In contrast, most known solitary wave solutions belong to weakly nonlinear wave equations (e.g., the Korteweg—deVries (KdV) equation).

The FSGE is shown to reduce to the KdV equation at small amplitudes. Classical sech² solitons thus represent a limiting class of solutions to the FSGE. The primary new effect on planetons at finite amplitudes is nonlinear dispersion. It is argued that due to this effect the propagation rates of finite amplitude planetons differ significantly from the ‘‘weak planeton'', or KdV, dispersion relation. Planeton structure is found to be simple and reminiscent of KdV solitons. Numerical evidence is presented which suggests that collisions between finite amplitude solitary waves are weakly inelastic, indicating the loss of true soliton behavior of the FSGE at moderate amplitudes. Lastly, the sensitivity of solitary waves to the existence of a nontrivial far field is demonstrated and the role of this analysis in the interpretation of lab experiments and the evolution of the thermocline is discussed.  相似文献   

The tidal intrusion front: An estuarine convergence zone     

J.H. Simpson  R.A. Nunes 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1981,13(3):257-IN1

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一次典型梅雨锋锋面结构分析   总被引：16，自引：5，他引：11  

柳俊杰  丁一汇  何金海 《气象学报》2003,61(3):291-301

1999年梅雨期在长江中下游维持着一条典型的梅雨锋 ,锋面和梅雨雨带呈东西走向 ,从中国的四川省一直延伸到日本。锋面两侧的温度及湿度对比明显 ,并且其上有数个中间尺度的低涡沿梅雨锋依次向东移动发展 ,在长江中下游造成严重的梅雨暴雨和洪涝。文中分析了 1999年这次典型梅雨锋的锋面结构。结果表明 ,从温度场看 ,由于梅雨区对流和降水的显著发展 ,梅雨锋的低层温度对比几近消失 ,其中上部仍具有典型的上宽下窄的锋面结构 ,锋面随高度向北倾斜。在低层经向温度场呈现复杂的暖 -冷 -暖的结构 ,即北部华北平原为地面感热加热造成的相对较暖的变性极地大陆气团 ,中间为冷空气南下和降水冷却造成的相对较冷的梅雨区 ,南部是相对较暖的热带海洋气团。在这种温度场下 ,由北部低层变性暖气团与梅雨区偏冷空气形成了明显的温度对比区 ,文中定义这个区域为梅雨赤道锋。因而 ,在低层东亚梅雨区的锋区结构由梅雨赤道锋和减弱的梅雨锋构成。在 6 0 0hPa以上前者消失 ,只有单一的极锋型的梅雨锋结构。在此分析的基础上文中给出了东亚梅雨期锋面结构模型图。另外还指出 ,从假相当位温场分析 ,主要表现出梅雨区的深厚对流。降雨引起了高θse带及其南北高θse梯度区 ,其北侧高θse梯度区大致相当于梅雨锋 ,而南侧高θs  相似文献   

Uncertainty representation of ocean fronts based on fuzzy-rough set theory   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Cunjin Xue  Chenghu Zhou  Fenzhen Su  Dandan Zhang 《中国海洋大学学报(英文版)》2008,7(2):131-136

Analysis of ocean fronts' uncertainties indicates that they result from indiseemibility of their spatial position and fuzzi-ness of their intensity. In view of this, a flow hierarchy for uncertainty representation of ocean fronts is proposed on the basis of fuzzy-rough set theory. Firstly, raster scanning and blurring are carried out on an ocean front, and the upper and lower approximate sets, the indiscernible relation in fuzzy-rough theories and related operators in fuzzy set theories are adopted to represent its uncer-tainties, then they are classified into three sets: with members one hundred pereent belonging to the ocean front, belonging to the ocean front's edge and definitely not belonging to the ocean front. Finally, the approximate precision and roughness degree are util-ized to evaluate the ocean front's degree of uncertainties and the precision of the representation. It has been proven that the method is not only capable of representing ocean fronts' uncertainties, but also provides a new theory and method for uncertainty representation of other oceanic phenomena.  相似文献