Data are presented indicating the complexity and highly variable response of beaches to cold front passages along the northern Gulf of Mexico, in addition to the impacts of tropical cyclones and winter storms. Within the past decade, an increase in the frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes impacting the northern Gulf has dramatically altered the long-term equilibrium of a large portion of this coast. A time series of net sediment flux for subaerial and nearshore environments has been established for a section of this coast in Florida, and to a lesser extent, Mississippi. The data incorporate the morphological signature of six tropical storms/hurricanes and more than 200 frontal passages.
Data indicate that (1) barrier islands can conserve mass during catastrophic hurricanes (e.g., Hurricane Opal, a strong category 4 hurricane near landfall); (2) less severe hurricanes and tropical storms can promote rapid dune aggradation and can contribute sediment to the entire barrier system; (3) cold fronts play a critical role in the poststorm adjustment of the barrier by deflating the subaerial portion of the overwash terrace and eroding its marginal lobe along the bayside beach through locally generated, high frequency, steep waves; and (4) barrier systems along the northern Gulf do not necessarily enter an immediate poststorm recovery phase, although nested in sediment-rich nearshore environments. While high wave energy conditions associated with cold fronts play an integral role in the evolution and maintenance of barriers along the northern Gulf, these events are more effective in reworking sediment after the occurrence of extreme events such as hurricanes. This relationship is even more apparent during the clustering of tropical cyclones.
It is anticipated that these findings will have important implications for the longer term evolution of barrier systems in midlatitude, microtidal settings where the clustering of storms is apparent, and winter storms are significant in intensity and frequency along the coast. 相似文献
The upper layer (above 140 m depth) temperature in the western Philippine Sea near Taiwan was sampled using a coastal monitoring
buoy (CMB) with 15 attached thermistors during July 28–August 7, 2005. The data were collected every 10 min at 1, 3, 5, 10,
15, and 20 m using the CMB sensors, and every 15 sec at 15 different depths between 25 m and 140 m. Internal waves and solitons
were identified from the time-depth plot of the temperature field. Without the internal waves and solitons, the power spectra,
structure functions, and singular measures (representing the intermittency) of temperature field satisfy the power law with
multi-scale characteristics at all depths. The internal waves do not change the basic characteristics of the multifractal
structure. However, the internal solitons change the power exponent of the power spectra drastically, especially in the low
wave number domain; they also break down the power law of the structure function and increase the intermittency parameter.
The physical mechanisms causing these different effects need to be explored further. 相似文献
Mesoscale features in the eastward extension of the Kuroshio were investigated using assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P)
data into a three-layer quasi-geostrophic model. The T/P data exhibited an elongated state of the southern recirculation gyre
in 1993–95 and 1997, between whose two periods the gyre had a contracted state in 1995–96. A few stationary eddies were located
in the southern gyre during the contracted state. The baroclinic instability, which was indicated by the phase shift from
the uppermost-to the lowest-layer anomalies toward the downstream side, was evident near the Kuroshio Extension (KE) path.
Since the instability never appeared in the artificial model without bottom topography, the topographic barrier for the eastward
flow in the lowest layer was a necessary condition for the instability. The instability synchronized with the transition in
the western region of the KE axis from the elongated to the contracted states. This evolution was interpreted as if the baroclinic
instability played some part in the KE states and was a trigger for the transition from the elongated to the contracted states. 相似文献
Using the data specially observed on the Bohai Sea oil platform by the authors for studying thermocline for two weeks, the thermocline depth, the temperature and the salinity of the layers below and above the thermocline were numerically modelled. The model is based on the Stigebrandt model and some important supplements are made in this paper in accordance with the local condition of the sea. The modelling results fit well in the observations. It is proved that the entrainmem due to both the tide and the wind can give rise to rather intense mixing cross the thermocline. This process makes the temperature rising below the thermocline,and causes the nutrient increasing above it,which has important significance for the marine physical environment and the marine organism. 相似文献
Following our previous study (Sugimoto and Hanawa, 2005b), we further investigate the reason why reemergence of winter sea
surface temperature anomalies does not occur in the North Pacific eastern subtropical mode water (NPESTMW) area, despite its
occurrence in the North Pacific subtropical mode water and North Pacific central mode water areas. We use vertical temperature
and salinity profiles of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment Hydrographic Program and Argo floats with high vertical and
temporal resolution, together with heat flux data through the sea surface. We point out first that one of the causes for non-occurrence
of reemergence is that the thickness of NPESTMW is very thin. In addition to this basic cause, two major reasons are found:
a vigorous mixing in the lower portion of NPESTMW and less heat input from the atmosphere in the warming season. Since, in
the lower portion of NPESTMW and deeper, the stratification is favorable for salt-finger type convection to occur compared
with the other mode water areas, vigorous mixing takes place. This is confirmed by both a large Turner Angle there and the
existence of staircase structures in vertical temperature and salinity profiles. From the viewpoint of heat input, the NPESTMW
area gradually gains heat in the warming season compared with other mode water areas. As a result, NPESTMW cannot be capped
so quickly by the shallow summer mixed layer, and water properties of NPESTMW are to be gradually modified, even in the upper
portion. 相似文献