Numerical Modelling of the Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer

Numerical Modelling of the Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 4

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Book Description
The primary objective of this project was to examine the nature of wind-driven upwelling and downwelling along a 2-dim shelf with sloping bottom topography. The approach was to use the Semi-spectral Primitive Equation Model (SPEM) developed by D. Haidvogel and coworkers as the basic circulation model, and conduct a series of idealized model runs to investigate the influence of bottom slope, surface windstress and heat flux, and mixing on the surface and bottom boundary layers which form during the initial stages of up/downwelling. The advanced turbulent closure schemes of Mellor and Yamada were added to our version of SPEM and the model studies were conducted. These studies showed that an asymmetry develops in the bottom boundary layer thickness depending of if the flow is up or downwelling, and that if the coast is shallow enough, that the surface and bottom boundary layers can merge near the coast. Two AGU abstracts were presented and several talks were given on this work. A paper co-authored with A. Herman on the technical aspects of the vertical model resolution was also published.

Numerical Modelling of the Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer

Numerical Modelling of the Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 4

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Book Description
The primary objective of this project was to examine the nature of wind-driven upwelling and downwelling along a 2-dim shelf with sloping bottom topography. The approach was to use the Semi-spectral Primitive Equation Model (SPEM) developed by D. Haidvogel and coworkers as the basic circulation model, and conduct a series of idealized model runs to investigate the influence of bottom slope, surface windstress and heat flux, and mixing on the surface and bottom boundary layers which form during the initial stages of up/downwelling. The advanced turbulent closure schemes of Mellor and Yamada were added to our version of SPEM and the model studies were conducted. These studies showed that an asymmetry develops in the bottom boundary layer thickness depending of if the flow is up or downwelling, and that if the coast is shallow enough, that the surface and bottom boundary layers can merge near the coast. Two AGU abstracts were presented and several talks were given on this work. A paper co-authored with A. Herman on the technical aspects of the vertical model resolution was also published.

Numerical Model of Circulation in Chesapeake Bay and the Continental Shelf

Numerical Model of Circulation in Chesapeake Bay and the Continental Shelf PDF Author: Kurt W. Hess
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ocean circulation
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model

Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model PDF Author: William D. Grant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Boundary layer
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Stratification Prediction and Bottom Boundary Layer Dynamics Over the Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf

Stratification Prediction and Bottom Boundary Layer Dynamics Over the Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf PDF Author: Wenxia Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The bottom boundary layer is an unstratified thin layer above the sea floor, separated from the more strongly stratified interior. Formation of a thin bottom boundary layer in the presence of stratification and a sloping bottom is common, and well characterized by theory. This thin layer is an important source of mixing over the continental shelf, and it plays a fundamental role in several continental shelf physical and biogeochemical processes, such as buoyancy advection, bottom material transport and hypoxia formation. In this research, Both observations and numerical models are used to study models' ability of reproducing observed stratification and bottom boundary layer dynamics over the Texas-Louisiana shelf. Simulated vertical stratification, which is also representing the vertical density structure, was first evaluated since it directly controls the bottom boundary layer structure itself and is important for other bottom boundary layer dynamics. A new metric, the histogram of vertical stratification, is introduced in this research to evaluate the models' ability of reproducing observed stratification in a bulk sense. The improvement in model performance is attributed to the finer horizontal and temporal resolutions of a model, while factors like open boundary conditions and vertical resolutions are modified without any improvement in the ability of the model to simulate observed stratification. Towed, undulating CTD profiles collected during Mechanisms Controlling Hypoxia (MCH) program also detected mid-water oxygen minima in many transects. These intrusions are connected with the bottom boundary layer and follows the pycnocline seaward as a mid-water column tongue of low oxygen. We calculate convergence within the bottom boundary layer relative to density surfaces using the simulated results; there is a convergence in the bottom boundary layer at the location where the pycnocline intercepts the bottom, creating an injection of bottom boundary layer water into the pycnocline. Convergent flow at the bottom, relative to isopycnal surfaces, is strongest in the density classes associated with the oxygen minimum layer. We believe these mid-water oxygen minima are actually intrusions of low oxygen protruding from the bottom boundary layer via buoyancy advection driven convergence, following the main pycnocline. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/155027

Physical Oceanography of Continental Shelves

Physical Oceanography of Continental Shelves PDF Author: K.H. Brink
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691236453
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
"This book is intended as a graduate-level textbook and professional reference on the physical oceanography of the continental shelf and slope. Defined as water deeper than about three meters and shallower than a kilometer, this region of the ocean is important for a variety of scientific and practical reasons, from its high biological productivity and role in distributing outflows from the continents to its heavy usage in transportation and recreation. In recent years, research on the coastal ocean has expanded as the study of both short- and long-term anthropogenic change has become increasingly urgent. Yet there is no comprehensive treatment of the dynamics of this critical region. The book covers a range of topics involving currents and water properties, including turbulent boundary layers, wind driving, tides, buoyancy currents, waves, instabilities, and connections with the open, deep ocean. Brink's approach-informed by over a decade teaching the corresponding course in Woods Hole/MIT's joint program-centers on the dynamics of particular processes and combinations of processes, but also includes copious observational examples. Intended to be accessible to graduate students in a range of oceanographic specialties, the book assumes 2-3 years of university-level math and at least an introductory course in quantitative physical oceanography"--

A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model

A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model PDF Author: Richard Brent Styles
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model

A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model PDF Author: Scott Michael Glenn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Boundary layer
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model

A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer Model PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution January 1983.

Wave-current Boundary Layer

Wave-current Boundary Layer PDF Author: Margaret R. Goud
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sediment transport
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
This thesis presents an application of the Grant-Madsen-Glenn bottom boundary layer model (Grant and Madsen, 1979; Glenn and Grant, 1987) to predictions of sediment transport on the continental shelf. The analysis is a two-stage process. Via numerical experiment, we explore the sensitivity of sediment transport to variations in model parameters and assumptions. A notable result is the enhancement of suspended sediment stratification due to wave boundary layer effects. When sediment stratification is neglected under conditions of large wave bottom velocities (i.e. ,... ), concentration predictions can be more than an order of magnitude higher than any observed during storm conditions on the continental shelf. A number of limitations to application emerged from the analysis. Solutions to the stratified model are not uniquely determined under a number of cases of interest, potentially leading to gross inaccuracies in the prediction of sediment load and transport. Load and sediment transport in the outer Ekman Layer, beyond the region of emphasis for the model, can be as large or larger than the near-bottom estimates in some cases; such results suggest directions for improvements in the theoretical model. In the second step of the analysis, we test the ability of the model to make predictions of net sediment transport that are consistent with observed sediment depositional patterns. Data from the Mid-Atlantic Bight and the Northern California coast are used to define reasonable model input to represent conditions on two different types of shelves. In these examples, the results show how the intensification of wave bottom velocities with decreasing depth can introduce net transport over a region. The patterns of erosion/deposition are shown to be strongly influenced by sediment stratification and moveable bed roughness. Also predicted by the applications is a rapid winnowing out of fine grain size components when there is even a small variation of bed grain size texture in the along-flow direction.

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program: Physical oceanography

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program: Physical oceanography PDF Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee to Review the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program. Physical Oceanography Panel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Continental shelf
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
A report by the Physical Oceanography Panel of the National Research Council of the United States into the physical oceanographic aspects of the Environmental Studies Program. The Committee evaluated the quality and relevance of studies carried out in waters under federal control which extend from the limits of state jurisdictions (3-12 miles offshore) and include the central and outer continental shelf waters and the continental slope of the United States.