Alongshore Coherence on the Pacific Northwest Continental Shelf (January–April, 1975)

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Abstract
During the winter and spring of 1975, current observations were made simultaneously at five locations between Tofino, British Columbia, and Newport, Oregon, a distance of 480 km. Sea level and atmospheric pressure observations were available at three locations alongshore, and wind observations, at four locations. Computed (Bakun) winds were available at 3° intervals. Low-frequency (differences in fluctuations could be directly related to alongshore structure in the wind field, providing independent evidence for local wind forcing: 33% of the variance in alonS5hore current at Tofino (but <5% at other locations) was contained in an eigenfunction that changed sign between 49 and 47°N and was significantly coherent with an alongshore wind eigenfunction with a similar structure. Finally. the seasonal means south of Tofino are shown to he roughly consistent with a dynamical balance between vertically integrated alongshore pressure gradient force and the mean alongshore wind stress.

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