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Sub-inertial characteristics of the surface flow field over the shelf of the central Mid-Atlantic Bight
Authors:Brian Dzwonkowski  Josh T Kohut  Xiao-Hai Yan  
Institution:aCollege of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA;bInstitute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA;cState Key Lab of Marine Environment, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Abstract:Observations of surface velocity data from August 2002 to February 2004 were collected by a series of four long-range high-frequency (HF) radars along the coast of New Jersey. The shelf observations of the central Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) were compared to historical observations of surface flow characteristics in the area. The time-averaged spatial mean velocity of 4 cm/s in the down-shelf along-shelf direction and 3 cm/s in the offshore across-shelf direction compared very well to historical surface measurements in the study region. However, as the spatial resolution of the data set revealed, this simple measure masked significant spatial variations in the overall and seasonal mean flow structures. Three regions – the south bank of the Hudson Shelf Valley, the southern New Jersey inner shelf (LEO-15) region, and the region offshore of the Delaware Bay mouth (southwest corner) – had mean flows that favor offshore transport of surface water. In terms of temporal variability, maps of the principle axes showed that the across-shelf (minor) axis contribution was not insignificant in the surface layer ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 of along-shelf (major) axis and that there were seasonal differences in orientation and ellipticity. Analysis of the spatial changes in the temporal and spatial correlation scales over the shelf showed that shelf position, in addition to site separation, contributed to the differences in these properties. Furthermore, observations over the Hudson Shelf Valley region suggested that this was a region of transition in which the orientation of along- and across-shelf components begin to change.
Keywords:Surface currents  Correlation scales  HF radar  Mid-Atlantic Bight  Surface velocity
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