On the Effect of Bottom Friction on Barotropic Motion Over the Continental Shelf

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Abstract
Observations of the velocity fields over the continental shelf and slope off Oregon and off Peru have shown that there is a phase difference in the onshore-offshore direction, with the velocity fluctuations nearshore leading those offshore in time. It is shown here that the effects of bottom Ekman layer friction and cross-shelf depth variation combine to result in such a phase lag in a model for forced or free long barotropic continental shelf waves. The model also shows that bottom friction results in a smaller phase lag between the alongshore components of velocity and wind stress than that predicted by a frictionless model, a feature found in the observations off Oregon.

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