Topographically Controlled Flow Around a Deep Trough Transecting the Shelf off Kodiak Island, Alaska
Open Access
- 1 January 1983
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Vol. 13 (1) , 139-146
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1983)013<0139:tcfaad>2.0.co;2
Abstract
Current measurements core the axis of a deep trough normal to the coast and from the adjacent shelf show that the mean flow is barotropic and follows depth contours, conserving potential vorticity, to form a cyclonic vortex or meander over the trough. The data are interpreted as an example of an inertial Taylor-Proudman column on the continental shelf. The scale of the topographic variations dominates the potential vorticity balance and a simple steady-state numerical model is in good agreement with the data when the vorticity balance approaches the limit U · BH = 0. Streamlines following isobaths converge over steeper topography and current speeds are nearly proportional to the local topographic gradient. Estimates from the data support this behavior and indicate that the ∼20 cm s−1 mean current around the trough is driven by a typical cross-shelf-averaged velocity scale of ∼5 cm s−1.Keywords
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