How faithfully will the geostrophic currents represent the existing ocean currents? |
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| Authors: | Koji Hidaka |
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| Institution: | (1) Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo Nakano, 164 Tokyo, Japan |
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| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that the geostrophic flows computed by the dynamic method of Bjerknes and collaborators represent the actual currents pretty faithfully. However, what would be the reason that a geostrophic current derived by only retaining the terms of Coriolis and the pressure gradient forces in the hydrodynamical equations agrees so closely with the actual ocean current of the same area? In this attempt was assumed an imaginative ocean of homogeneous water and uniform depth on a rotating earth but with neither continent nor islands. The average wind distribution observed along several meridians over the Pacific Ocean was assumed to prevail in this sea throughout with no variation in east-west direction. Taking the curvature of the earth surface, rotation of the earth, Coriolis forces, pressure gradients and the horizontal and vertical eddy viscosity into account, the equations of motion were solved and velocity components were derived for all latitudes. A comparison of the east-west components thus obtained with the corresponding components of the geostrophic flows, reveals that they agree well in higher latitudes but there appears a remarkable disagreement in lower latitudes. This means that a special care must be taken in replacing the existing currents with the geostrophic flows at lower latitudes. |
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