Model analysis of the currents and wind waves in the Vistula Lagoon of the Baltic Sea

This paper considers the results of the numerical simulation of the steady currents and waves field structures in the Vistula Lagoon under constant wind forcing. The currents?? structure is essentially 3-dimensional. The direction of the near-shore drift is determined by the wind and shore orientation, but the currents involve two layers in the deeper part of the basin: the upper layer downwind current and the upwind compensative current in the underlying layer. The wind waves depend upon the wind speed, fetch, and depth until the wind speed is less than 6?C8 m/s. As the wind increases, the fetch??s dependence disappears. The wind height depends only on the wind??s magnitude, and, under stormy conditions (when the wind??s speed exceeds 15 m/s), the waves are limited by the water depth alone.     

The effects of random surface waves on the steady Ekman current solutions

The response of near-surface current profiles to wind and random surface waves are studied based on the approach of Jenkins [1989. The use of a wave prediction model for driving a near surface current model. Dtsch. Hydrogr. Z. 42, 134–149] and Tang et al. [2007. Observation and modeling of surface currents on the Grand Banks: a study of the wave effects on surface currents. J. Geophys. Res. 112, C10025, doi:10.1029/2006JC004028]. Analytic steady solutions are presented for wave-modified Ekman equations resulting from Stokes drift, wind input and wave dissipation for a depth-independent constant eddy viscosity coefficient and one that varies linearly with depth. The parameters involved in the solutions can be determined by the two-dimensional wavenumber spectrum of ocean waves, wind speed, the Coriolis parameter and the densities of air and water, and the solutions reduce to those of Lewis and Belcher [2004. Time-dependent, coupled, Ekman boundary layer solutions incorporating Stokes drift. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans. 37, 313–351] when only the effects of Stokes drift are included. As illustrative examples, for a fully developed wind-generated sea with different wind speeds, wave-modified current profiles are calculated and compared with the classical Ekman theory and Lewis and Belcher's [2004. Time-dependent, coupled, Ekman boundary layer solutions incorporating Stokes drift. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans 37, 313–351] modification by using the Donelan and Pierson [1987. Radar scattering and equilibrium ranges in wind-generated waves with application to scatterometry. J. Geophys. Res. 92, 4971–5029] wavenumber spectrum, the WAM wave model formulation for wind input energy to waves, and wave energy dissipation converted to currents. Illustrative examples for a fully developed sea and the comparisons between observations and the theoretical predictions demonstrate that the effects of the random surface waves on the classical Ekman current are important, as they change qualitatively the nature of the Ekman layer. But the effects of the wind input and wave dissipation on surface current are small, relative to the impact of the Stokes drift.     

Transient wind drift currents in a tidal inlet: Theoretical analysis of Ekman drift current and field experiments in Suonada,the Seto Inland Sea

Time-dependent wind drift currents in a basin with finite depth have been solved analytically in order to understand their fundamental behavior in coastal waters. The drift currents due to the land/sea breeze, as a typical example of time-dependent winds, have been examined with attention to the manner of their oscillation in their vertical profiles. The theoretical analysis indicates that the drift current due to the land/sea breeze might be amplified effectively around the southern part of Japan, where the oscillating period of the wind is near to the inertial period. The analysis of the physical process of the drift current reveals the following two important aspects: the Ekman boundary layer in a rotating frame is physically consistent with the Stokes boundary layer due to oscillating currents in an inertial frame, and so the inertial motion due to the wind is dispersed to the deeper level by the vertical viscosity in a rotating frame. The harmonic analysis was performed for the residual data after removal of the four main tidal constituents, M2, S2, K1 and O1, from the raw data observed in Suonada sound, the Seto Inland Sea. The feature of the analytically solved drift currents corresponded well to the observed picture. The vertical viscosity in this field has been estimated at 10⁻³ m²/s by adjusting the harmonically analytical result of the observed data to the vertical profile of the analytically solved drift current.     

Features of the hydrological structure and circulation in the north-western Black Sea: shipboard and satellite observations in 1989–1990

The results of shipboard and satellite observations of the synoptic variability in the region of the continental slope south of the Tarkhankut Cape are considered. Ship observations revealed a two-layer circulation system of currents. An anticyclonic meander is localized within the upper mixed layer. A cyclonic disturbance, related to the main Black Sea current, occupies the water column below the seasonal thermocline. The interaction between the thermohaline fields is presumably induced by the anticyclonic atmospheric circulation. The satellite-derived images revealed a complex pattern of the large-scale dynamics of seawater over the entire north-western Black Sea.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

波浪辐射应力对海流模式影响的数值分析

将波浪辐射应力,特别是地转意义下的波浪辐射应力引入海流数值模式POM(princeton ocean model),在渤海海域进行了初步的数值研究。在目前的数值分析中仅考虑了波浪辐射应力的横向分量(也是最重要的分量)。在POM模式中引入非地转和地转意义下的波浪辐射应力两种方案,并与原模式直接运行(即不考虑波浪辐射应力)的结果进行比较。比较显示,波浪辐射应力,特别是地转意义下的波浪辐射应力对海流模式结果的影响不容忽略。在海浪场存在的条件下,由风应力和地转意义下浪致作用力共同作用产生的海流强度应比理论上Ekman漂流的强度大,尤其是在浪致作用力显著的表层,表层流将明显增强,且不会完全符合Ekman漂流理论的转向规律。     

Efficiency of dense shelf water cascading over the continental slope of Severnaya Zemlya in the Laptev Sea and its possible contribution to the ventilation of the intermediate water in the Nansen Basin

Comprehensive field observations of hydrological processes in the region of the continental slope of Severnaya Zemlya in the Laptev Sea allowed us to reveal descending dense (cold) shelf water over the slope (cascading) and to determine the spatiotemporal variability of the cascading [2]. The observations represented a series of polygon surveys in the autumn-winter-spring period. The estimates of the characteristics of the slope convection of the shelf water (cascading) were based on the results of laboratory and theoretical studies of the descending of the dense water over a sloping bottom in a rotating fluid with sources of different geometry. It was shown that the cascading of dense shelf water over the continental slope mainly corresponds to a smooth (geostrophic) regime. An analysis of some thermohaline and density sections indicates, however, the possibility of the development of a wave-eddy regime of cascading and/or generation of fast gravity waves in the upper part of the continental slope. The most representative estimation of the contribution of the cascading of dense shelf water on the northern continental slope of Severnaya Zemlya to the ventilation of the intermediate waters in the Nansen Basin for five winter months is ≈0.0614 Sv.     

Input of Glaciomarine Sediments along the East Antarctic Continental Margin; Depositional Processes on the Cosmonaut Sea Continental Slope and Rise and a Regional Acoustic Stratigraphic Correlation from 40° W to 80° E

Multichannel seismic reflection data from the Cosmonaut Sea margin of East Antarctica have been interpreted in terms of depositional processes in the continental slope and rise area. A major sediment lens is present below the upper continental rise along the entire Cosmonaut Sea margin. The lens probably consists of sediments supplied from the shelf and slope, being constantly reworked by westward flowing bottom currents, which redeposited the sediments into a large scale drift deposit prior to the main glaciogenic input along the margin. High-relief semicircular or elongated depositional structures are also found on the upper continental rise stratigraphically above the regional sediment lens, and were deposited by the combined influence of downslope and alongslope sediment transport. On the lower continental rise, large-scale sediment bodies extend perpendicular to the continental margin and were deposited as a result of downslope turbidity transport and westward flowing bottom currents after initiation of glacigenic input to the slope and rise. We compare the seismostratigraphic signatures along the continental margin segments of the adjacent Riiser Larsen Sea, the Weddell Sea and the Prydz Bay/Cooperation Sea, focussing on indications that may be interpreted as a preglacial-glaciomarine transition in the depositional environment. We suggest that earliest glaciogenic input to the continental slope and rise occurred in the Prydz Bay and possibly in the Weddell Sea. At a later stage, an intensification of the oceanic circulation pattern occurred, resulting in the deposition of the regional plastered drift deposit along the Cosmonaut Sea margin, as well as the initiation of large drift deposits in the Cooperation Sea. At an even later stage, possibly in the middle Miocene, glacial advances across the continental shelf were initiated along the Cosmonaut Sea and the Riiser Larsen Sea continental margins.     

Ekman drift and vortical structures

In this article, the authors study the influence of a constant wind on the displacement of a vortex. The well known Ekman current develops in the surface layer and is responsible for a transport perpendicular to the wind: the Ekman drift.An additional process is, however, evidenced, whose importance is as strong as the Ekman drift. There indeed exists a curl of the wind-driven acceleration along isopycnic surfaces when they are spatially variable (they enter and leave the depth where the wind stress acts), which generates potential vorticity anomalies. This diabatic effect is shown to generate potential vorticity anomalies which acts on the propagation of vortical waves and non linear vortices.It is shown that this effect drastically reduces the effect of the Ekman drift for linear waves and surface intensified vortices, while extending its effect to subsurface vortices. It also generates along wind propagation, whose sign depends on the vortex characteristics.     

白令海峡夏季流量的年际变化及其成因

白令海峡是连接太平洋和北冰洋的唯一通道,穿过海峡的海水体积通量在年际尺度上的变化主要取决于海峡南北两侧的海面高度差,白令海峡的入流对北冰洋海洋过程有重要的意义。利用SODA资料计算夏季白令海峡海水体积通量,对其年际变化及成因进行分析。结果表明夏季白令海峡的体积通量主要是正压地转的;当体积通量为正距平时,楚科奇海、东西伯利亚海、拉普捷夫海以及波弗特海南部海面高度为负距平,同时,白令海陆架海面高度为正距平;对这些海域的Ekman运动、上层海洋温度、盐度和垂直流速进行分析,发现海面高度异常与海峡体积通量的这种关系主要是与海面气压异常分布所产生的Ekman运动有关。当白令海峡的体积通量为正距平时,北冰洋中央海面气压为正距平,白令海海盆海面气压为负距平。这种气压的异常分布在一定程度上解释了上层海洋运动、海水温盐结构与白令海峡入流的关系,从而把夏季大尺度大气环流和白令海峡体积通量的年际变化联系了起来。     

Line P ocean temperature and salinity, 1956-2005

Vertical profiles of temperature and salinity have been measured for 50 years along Line P between the North American west coast and mid Gulf of Alaska. These measurements extend 1425 km into the gulf at 13 or more sampling stations. The 10-50-m deep layer of Line P increased in temperature by 0.9 °C from 1958 to 2005, but is significant only at the 90% level due to large interannual variability. Most of this increase in temperature accompanies the 1977 shift in wind patterns. Temperature changes at 100-150 m and salinity changes in both layers are not statistically significant. Much of the variance in temperature is in the upper 50 m of Line P, and temperature changes tend to be uniform along Line P except for waters on the continental margin. Salinity changes are dominated by variability in the halocline between 100 and 150 m depth and are less uniform along Line P. Largest oscillations in temperature and salinity are between 1993 and 2003. These events can be understood by considering changes in eastward wind speed and wind patterns that are revealed in the first two modes of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Changes in these patterns are indicators for both Ekman surface forcing (Surface ocean currents flow to the right of the wind direction) and Ekman pumping (Surface waters diverge away from regions of positive wind stress curl, leading to upwelling of colder saltier water). Changes in temperature along the nearshore part of Line P suggest Ekman surface forcing is the stronger of the two processes in the upper layer. The change in salinity anomalies in the halocline along the seaward end of Line P, following the wind shift in 1977, is in agreement with enhanced upwelling caused by stronger Ekman pumping in this region.     

高频表面波对定常Ekman流解的影响

基于Jenkins(1989)建立的包含Stokes漂流、风输入和波耗散影响的修正Ekman模型,采用Paskyabi等(2012)使用的推广的Donelan等(1987)中的谱和波耗散函数,并利用Paskyabi等(2012)中修正方法给出的包含高频波的风输入函数,在粘性不依赖于水深及粘性随深度线性变化的条件下,研究了包含高频毛细重力波的随机表面波对Stokes漂流和Song(2009)导出的波浪修正定常Ekman流解的影响。结果表明高频表面波使Stokes漂流在海表面剪切加强,对定常Ekamn流解的影响通常不能忽略,但对Ekman流场的角度偏转影响很小。最后,将考虑高频表面波尾谱影响所估算的定常Ekman流解与已有观测结果以及经典Ekman解进行了比对分析。     

南海西北部上层海洋对台风“杜苏芮”的响应分析

基于锚碇观测资料,本文分析了南海西北部陆坡区上层海洋对台风“杜苏芮”的动力学和热力学响应特征。在动力学响应方面,台风“杜苏芮”期间上层流速显著增强,混合层纬向流速可达1.20 m/s;“杜苏芮”经过后上层海水运动以近惯性振荡为主(流向顺时针旋转周期在36～40 h之间)。近惯性能量在垂向分布上存在两个高值中心,分别位于混合层和温跃层深度上。近惯性能量耗散过程的e折时间尺度约为3.7 d,我们认为能量的向下传播在局地近惯性能量衰减过程中起主要作用。对能量谱的分析表明,“杜苏芮”作用期间近惯性频率能量相对于其作用前增大了约29.4倍,而全日和半日频率(K₁和M₂)能量有所减弱。此外,能量谱显示近惯性频率存在明显的“蓝移”现象,即对于纬向和经向流速分量在400 m以浅平均的近惯性振荡频率分别为1.167 f₀和1.170 f₀(f₀为局地惯性频率)。蓝移与近惯性内波的向下传播及正的相对涡度的输入有关。在热力学响应方面,上层海洋在台风的搅拌作用下,40～250 m深度均出现较小增温,最大增温幅度接近1°C;此外70 m以浅盐度的降低可能与台风过境时的降水相关,而Ekman抽吸引起的上升流则可能对70～100 m深度盐度的升高具有重要作用。     

Generation of internal waves in the sea by local perturbations of wind and density flows on the surface

On the basis of a nonlinear model taking into account viscosity, density diffusion, and currents, we perform the numerical analysis of propagation of perturbations formed in the abyssal part of the Black Sea as a result of the action of tangential wind stresses or density flows in the form of a strip on the sea surface. It is shown that, in the course of time, in the region of the bottom slope, these perturbations generate a train of waves in the sea, which causes oscillations of the fields of density and currents. There are some differences between the generation of internal waves by the flows of density and the wind. Unlike the wind action, in the presence of flows of density in the upper layer in the region of the strip, the initial period of generation is characterized by the formation of intense perturbations without train structure. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

西北太平洋上层海洋对台风响应的个例研究

基于数字台风网、欧洲中心ERA-Interim、美国国家海洋与大气局以及中国Argo实时资料中心的资料研究了西北太平洋上层海洋对台风"奥鹿"的响应。研究结果表明,当"奥鹿"移动速度在2 m/s以下时,强风应力产生的Ekman泵是上层海洋响应的主要机制,移动速度越慢,Ekman抽吸速率(EPV)越大,海表温度(SST)降温持续时间短,冷尾迹出现在台风中心位置处。当"奥鹿"移动速度达到6 m/s以上时,持续风应力驱动的惯性泵是主导机制,SST降温持续时间长,冷尾迹出现在台风路径的右侧。惯性泵比Ekman泵持续的时间长,但Ekman泵影响深度比惯性泵大得多。在"奥鹿"经过西北太平洋时,混合层深度(MLD)变浅并伴随着"冷抽吸"作用的出现。上层海洋中"冷抽吸"现象较"热泵"现象影响深度深,持续时间长,在"奥鹿"过境后可持续20天以上。     

南海北部海底沙波研究

南海北部水深100~250 m的陆架和陆坡斜坡海底分布着大片沙波地貌,本文采用底形相图参数近似计算和泥沙起动流速2种计算方法,结合海底微地貌的实际形态,研究了沙波的沉积特征及其成因机理。研究认为,区内的沙波为现代沉积地貌;控制沙波形成发育的主要水动力因素是潮流与风暴条件下风海流的叠加;区内泥沙颗粒粒径适宜,海底坡度平缓,有利于海底沙波的发育。     

Recognition of contour-current influence in mixed contourite-turbidite sequences of the western Weddell Sea,Antarctica

Sedimentary processes and structures across the continental rise in the western Weddell Sea have been investigated using sediment acoustic and multichannel seismic data, integrated with multibeam depth sounding and core investigations. The results show that a network of channels with associated along-channel ridges covers the upper continental slope. The seismic profiles reveal that the channels initially developed as erosive turbidite channels with associated levees on their northern side due to Coriolis force. Later they were partly or fully infilled, probably as a result of decreasing turbidite activity. Now the larger ones exist as erosive turbidite channels of reduced size, whereas the smaller ones are non-erosive channels, their shape being maintained by contour current activity. Drift bodies only developed where slumps caused a distinctive break in slope inclination on the upper continental rise, which served to initiate the growth of a drift body fed by contour currents or by the combined action of turbidites and contourites. The history of sedimentation can be reconstructed tentatively by correlation of seismo-stratigraphic units with the stages of evolution of the drifts on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Three stages can be distinguished in the western Weddell Sea after a pre-drift stage, which is delimited by an erosional unconformity at the top: (1) a growth stage, dominated by turbidites, with occasional occurrence of slumps during its initial phase; (2) during a maintenance stage turbiditiy-current intensity (and presumably sedimentation rate also) decreased, probably as a result of the ice masses retreating from the shelf edge, and sedimentation became increasingly dominated by contour current activity; and (3) a phase of sheeted-sequence formation. A southward decrease in sediment thickness shows that the Larsen Ice Shelf plays an important role in sediment delivery to the western Weddell Sea. This study shows that the western Weddell Sea has some characteristics in common with the southern as well as the northwestern Weddell Sea: contour currents off the Larsen Ice Shelf have been present for a long time, probably since the late Miocene, but during times of high sediment input from the shelves as a result of advancing ice masses a channel-levee system developed and dominated over the contour-current transport of sediment. At times of relatively low sediment input the contour-current transport dominated, leading to the formation of drift deposits on the upper continental rise. Seaward of areas without shelf ice masses the continental rise mainly shows a rough topography with small channels and underdeveloped levees. The results demonstrate that sediment supply is an important, maybe the controlling factor of drift development on the Antarctic continental rise.     

Mechanism of horizontal mass- and salt-exchange between the waters of continental slope and central part of the Black Sea

Estimation of horizontal salt transfer from the central part of the Black Sea to the continental slope is carried out based on numerical modeling. A box hydrodynamic model of the Black Sea based on the POM model is used. Horizontal transport caused by seasonal variability of vertical velocity in the central part of the Black Sea and horizontal turbulent diffusion is considered. In this work we demonstrate that, in the 0- to 30-m layer on average for the year, there is an outflow of salty water under the impact of both factors. In the surface layer, the transport caused by seasonal variability contributes significantly (30%). In the 80- to 150-m layer on average over the year, the waters from the continental slope arrive into the central part of the basin; they are characterized by higher salinity due to the inflow of the Marmara Sea waters across the Bosporus Strait.     

Particle-tracking simulation for the drift/diffusion of spilled oils in the Sea of Okhotsk with a three-dimensional, high-resolution model

To conduct the simulation of oil spills in the Sea of Okhotsk, we developed a three-dimensional, high-resolution ocean circulation model. The model particularly improved the reproducibility of velocity field during the strong stratification period. Particle-tracking experiments with the effects of evaporation and biodegradation were performed using the combined data of daily ocean currents from the present model and the hourly diurnal tidal currents from the tidal model. The results are shown by the relative concentration of the particles averaged over the 8 years of 1998–2005 based on the ensemble forecast idea. For the case of particles released from the Sakhalin II oil field, the particles deployed in September–January are carried southward by the East Sakhalin Current, finally arriving at the Hokkaido coast, after 60–90 days. The particles deployed in March–August are diffused offshore by the synoptic wind drift, and hardly transported to regions south of Sakhalin. For the case of particles released from the region off Prigorodnoye, the oil export terminal, after the diffusion by the synoptic wind drift, a part of them are carried offshore of Hokkaido by the Soya Warm Current. The particles released in November–April flow out to the Japan Sea through the Soya Strait, mainly by the synoptic wind drift and secondly by the diffusion due to strong tidal currents around the Soya Strait. By considering the effects of evaporation and biodegradation, the relative concentration of the particles is considerably decreased before arriving at the Hokkaido coast, particularly in the case of drift from the Sakhalin II oil field.     

Internal tide and nonlinear internal wave behavior at the continental slope in the northern south China Sea

A field program to measure acoustic propagation characteristics and physical oceanography was undertaken in April and May 2001 in the northern South China Sea. Fluctuating ocean properties were measured with 21 moorings in water of 350- to 71-m depth near the continental slope. The sea floor at the site is gradually sloped at depths less than 90 m, but the deeper area is steppy, having gradual slopes over large areas that are near critical for diurnal internal waves and steep steps between those areas that account for much of the depth change. Large-amplitude nonlinear internal gravity waves incident on the site from the east were observed to change amplitude, horizontal length scale, and energy when shoaling. Beginning as relatively narrow solitary waves of depression, these waves continued onto the shelf much broadened in horizontal scale, where they were trailed by numerous waves of elevation (alternatively described as oscillations) that first appeared in the continental slope region. Internal gravity waves of both diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies (internal tides) were also observed to propagate into shallow water from deeper water, with the diurnal waves dominating. The internal tides were at times sufficiently nonlinear to break down into bores and groups of high-frequency nonlinear internal waves.