Wind Modifications to Density-Driven Flows in Semienclosed, Rotating Basins

The predictability of large-scale wind-driven flows

The singular values associated with optimally growing perturbations to stationary and time-dependent solutions for the general circulation in an ocean basin provide a measure of the rate at which solutions with nearby initial conditions begin to diverge, and hence, a measure of the predictability of the flow. In this paper, the singular vectors and singular values of stationary and evolving exa...

The Thermally Driven Cross-Basin Circulation in Idealized Basins under Varying Wind Conditions

The Weather Research and Forecasting model is used to perform large-eddy simulations of thermally driven cross-basin winds in idealized, closed basins. A spatially and temporally varying heat flux is prescribed at the surface as a function of slope inclination and orientation to produce a horizontal temperature gradient across the basin. The thermal asymmetry leads to the formation of a closed ...

Currents in Stratified Water Bodies 1: Density-Driven Flows

The layered structure in exchange flows between two basins (Middle and Southern basins of the Caspian Sea)

Ocean waters often show layered structures especially where exchange flow between two basins occurs. These structures are often attributed to processes such as double.diffusive convection, internal waves, turbulent modulated mixing. In this paper by examining the vertical structures of temperature, salinity and density, of the middle parts of Caspian Sea it is shown that such layered structure ...

Buoyancy and Wind-Driven Convection at Mixed Layer Density Fronts

In this study, the influence of a geostrophically balanced horizontal density gradient on turbulent convection in the ocean is examined using numerical simulations and a theoretical scaling analysis. Starting with uniform horizontal and vertical buoyancy gradients, convection is driven by imposing a heat loss or a destabilizing wind stress at the upper boundary, and a turbulent layer soon devel...