The circulation of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review   总被引：5，自引：9，他引：5  

William S. Kessler   《Progress in Oceanography》2006,69(2-4):181

During the 1950s and 1960s, an extensive field study and interpretive effort was made by researchers, primarily at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to sample and understand the physical oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific. That work was inspired by the valuable fisheries of the region, the recent discovery of the equatorial undercurrent, and the growing realization of the importance of the El Niño phenomenon. Here we review what was learned in that effort, and integrate those findings with work published since then as well as additional diagnoses based on modern data sets.Unlike the central Pacific, where the winds are nearly zonal and the ocean properties and circulation are nearly independent of longitude, the eastern tropical Pacific is distinguished by wind forcing that is strongly influenced by the topography of the American continent. Its circulation is characterized by short zonal scales, permanent eddies and significant off-equatorial upwelling. Notably, the Costa Rica Dome and a thermocline bowl to its northwest are due to winds blowing through gaps in the Central American cordillera, which imprint their signatures on the ocean through linear Sverdrup dynamics. Strong annual modulation of the gap winds and the meridional oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone generates a Rossby wave, superimposed on the direct forcing, that results in a southwestward-propagating annual thermocline signal accounting for major features of observed thermocline depth variations, including that of the Costa Rica Dome, the Tehuantepec bowl, and the ridge–trough system of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). Interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and altimetric sea surface height signals suggests that the strengthening of the NECC observed in the central Pacific during El Niño events continues all the way to the coast, warming SST (by zonal advection) in a wider meridional band than the equatorially trapped thermocline anomalies, and pumping equatorial water poleward along the coast.The South Equatorial Current originates as a combination of equatorial upwelling, mixing and advection from the NECC, and Peru coastal upwelling, but its sources and their variability remain unresolved. Similarly, while much of the Equatorial Undercurrent flows southeast into the Peru Undercurrent and supplies the coastal upwelling, a quantitative assessment is lacking. We are still unable to put together the eastern interconnections among the long zonal currents of the central Pacific.  相似文献   

An unsteady wave driver for narrowbanded waves: modeling nearshore circulation driven by wave groups     

Andrew B. Kennedy  James T. Kirby   《Coastal Engineering》2003,48(4):257-275

In this paper, we derive an unsteady refraction–diffraction model for narrowbanded water waves for use in computing coupled wave–current motion in the nearshore. The end result is a variable coefficient, nonlinear Schrödinger-type wave driver (describing the envelope of narrow-banded incident waves) coupled to forced nonlinear shallow water equations (describing steady or unsteady mean flows driven by the short-wave field). Comparisons with experimental data show that good accuracy can be obtained for cases of nonbreaking wave transformation. Numerical simulations show that the interaction of wave groups with longshore topographic nonuniformities generates strong edge wave resonances, providing a generating mechanism for low-order edge waves.  相似文献   

Numerical modeling of long waves in shallow water using Incremental Differential Quadrature Method     

M.R. Hashemi  M.J. Abedini  P. Malekzadeh 《Ocean Engineering》2006,33(13):1749-1764

Incremental Differential Quadrature Method (IDQM) as a rapid and accurate method for numerical simulation of Nonlinear Shallow Water (NLSW) waves is employed. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first endeavor to exploit DQM in coastal hydraulics. The one-dimensional NLSW equations and related boundary conditions are discretized in space and temporal directions by DQM rules and the resulting system of equations are used to compute the state variables in the entire computational domain. It was found that the splitting of total simulation time into a number of smaller time increments, could significantly enhance the performance of the proposed method. Furthermore, results of this study show two main advantages for IDQM compared with other conventional methods, namely; unconditional stability and minimal computational effort. Indeed, using IDQM, one can use a few grid points (in spatial or time direction) without imposing any stability condition on the time step to obtain an accurate convergent solution.  相似文献   

Modelling linear wave transformation induced by dissipative structures—Random waves     

R. Silva  M.A. Losada  P. Salles 《Ocean Engineering》2006,33(16):2174-2194

The relevant theory is presented and numerical results are compared with the analytical solution for the interaction of non-breaking waves with an array of vertical porous circular cylinders on a horizontal bed. The extension to the cases of unidirectional and multidirectional waves is obtained by means of a transfer function. The influence of the mechanical properties of porous structures and wave irregularity on wave transformation is analysed. Results for unidirectional and multidirectional wave spectra are compared to those obtained for regular waves. The model presented reproduces well the analytical results and provides a tool for analysing several engineering problems.  相似文献   

A study of Coriolis effects on long waves propagating in an unbounded ocean, channel and basin     

Ashabul Hoque  Azizur Rahman 《Ocean Engineering》2007,34(11-12):1701-1705

The effects of Coriolis force on long waves have been discussed based on gravity waves propagating in an unbounded ocean, channel and basin. In case of ocean, results show that the Coriolis effect will be significant and negligible, when the wave period is comparable to 2π/f and much shorter, respectively. Results also show in a channel, the wave amplitude and water particle velocity decrease exponentially in the positive y direction in the northern hemisphere (where f is positive). Moreover, in a basin, the Cotidal lines have been found as curves and rotate counterclockwise around the origin.  相似文献   

胶州湾口海底沙波的类型、特征及发育影响因素   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：3  

边淑华  夏东兴  陈义兰  赵月霞 《中国海洋大学学报(自然科学版)》2006,36(2):327-330

采用多波束资料对胶州湾口的海底沙波类型、特征进行了研究,发现研究区主要有线性沙波(二维)、沙丘(三维)2种沙波类型。结合水流流速、海底构造和表层沉积物综合分析发现:海底沙波缓坡朝向与优势流向不完全一致,为强流作用的产物,在涨、落潮作用下均可形成;沉积物的多寡是研究区海底沙波类型分布的决定因素,海底松散沉积物较为丰富的地区形成二维沙波。在水动力强大的胶州湾口,沉积物多分布在构造低洼地带,使二维线性沙波的分布与海底断裂延伸方向一致。  相似文献   

Experimental study of the breaking limit of multi-directional random waves passing over an impermeable submerged breakwater     

D. -S. Hur  N. Kawashima  K. Iwata 《Ocean Engineering》2003,30(15):1923-1940

This study investigates experimentally the breaking wave height of multi-directional random waves passing over an impermeable submerged breakwater. Experiments have been conducted in a three-dimensional wave basin equipped with a multi-directional random wave generator. A special type of wave gauge has been newly devised to record the water surface elevations in the breaker zone as accurately as possible. The records are analyzed to estimate the location and limit of wave breaking. Comparisons have also been made with the results of regular waves. The influence of the incident wave conditions on the breaking wave height normalized by the breakwater dimensions has been investigated. Empirical formulae have been presented to estimate the breaking limit of multi-directional random waves based on the experimental records. The formulae have been tested and found to work well not only for multi-directional random waves, but for regular waves as well.  相似文献   

Regeneration of sand waves after dredging   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

M. A. F. Knaapen  S. J. M. H. Hulscher 《Coastal Engineering》2002,46(4):1096

Sand waves are large bed waves on the seabed, being a few metres high and lying hundreds of metres apart. In some cases, these sand waves occur in navigation channels. If these sand waves reduce the water depth to an unacceptable level and hinder navigation, they need to be dredged. It has been observed in the Bisanseto Channel in Japan that the sand waves tend to regain their shape after dredging. In this paper, we address modelling of this regeneration of sand waves, aiming to predict this process. For this purpose, we combine a very simple, yet effective, amplitude-evolution model based on the Landau equation, with measurements in the Bisanseto Channel. The model parameters are tuned to the measured data using a genetic algorithm, a stochastic optimization routine. The results are good. The tuned model accurately reproduces the measured growth of the sand waves. The differences between the measured weave heights and the model results are smaller than the measurement noise. Furthermore, the resulting parameters are surprisingly consistent, given the large variations in the sediment characteristics, the water depth and the flow field. This approach was tested on its predictive capacity using a synthetic test case. The model was tuned based on constructed predredging data and the amplitude evolution as measured for over 2 years. After tuning, the predictions were accurate for about 10 years. Thus, it is shown that the approach could be a useful tool in the optimization of dredging strategies in case of dredging of sand waves.  相似文献   

On the parametric resonance of container ships     

Metin Taylan   《Ocean Engineering》2007,34(7):1021-1027

This work deals with parametric resonance which poses a great danger especially for container ships sailing in following or head seas. Important parameters that are effective in roll resonance are pointed out. For this purpose, a containership is taken as an example to analyze its stability in longitudinal waves based on the method worked out by American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). Unfavorable sailing conditions such as heading and speed, which directly depend on the environmental conditions, have been determined for this particular ship. These conditions may be reported to the master to guide him to keep his ship out of parametric resonance zones. Numerical details of the procedure have been worked out and provided as well.  相似文献   

A higher-order σ-coordinate non-hydrostatic model for nonlinear surface waves     

Chih-Chieh Young  Jan-Tai Kuo 《Ocean Engineering》2007,34(10):1357-1370

A higher-order non-hydrostatic model in a σ-coordinate system is developed. The model uses an implicit finite difference scheme on a staggered grid to simultaneously solve the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) with the free-surface boundary conditions. An integral method is applied to resolve the top-layer non-hydrostatic pressure, allowing for accurately resolving free-surface wave propagation. In contrast to the previous work, a higher-order spatial discretization is utilized to approximate the large horizontal pressure gradient due to steep surface waves or rapidly varying topographies. An efficient direct solver is developed to solve the resulting block hepta-diagonal matrix system. Accuracy of the new model is validated by linear and nonlinear standing waves and progressive waves. The model is then used to examine freak (extreme) waves. Features of downshifting focusing location and wave asymmetry characteristics are predicted on the temporal and spatial domains of a freak wave.  相似文献