Mechanisms of shelf-break frontogenesis |
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| Authors: | CHEN Dake |
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| Institution: | State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administra-tion, Hangzhou, 310012, China;Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA |
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| Abstract: | The shelf-break front is an omnipresent phenomenon in coastal oceans all over the world, but there is still no definitive explanation for the genesis of such a front. It is possible that different mechanisms are operative at different times and locations, but all of them should have something to do with the sharp change of bottom topography near the shelf-break. A couple of recently proposed mechanisms of shelf-break frontogenesis are dicussed. One of them invokes a flow convergence produced by local air-sea interac- tion over sloping topography, whereas the other relies on the depth dependence of wind-induced shear dispersion. These novel ide- as are based on new observational evidences and previous theoretical studies, and they are demonstrated here using an idealized o- cean-atmosphere coupled model and a stand-alone ocean model. The air-sea interaction mechanism seems plausible for the shelf- break front in the East China Sea, and the shear dispersion mechanism is likely to be applicable to the shelf-break front off the northcastem United States. |
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| Keywords: | shelf-break front air-sea interaction shear dispersion |
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