The fine-scale response of a subsurface stable stratified jet subject to the forcing of surface wind stress and surface cooling is investigated using direct numerical simulation. The initial velocity profile consists of a symmetric jet located below a surface layer driven by a constant wind stress. The initial density profile is well-mixed in the surface layer and linearly stratified in both up...

[1] Probability distribution and power density of wind speed over global oceans are computed from eight years of QuikSCAT measurements. They describe the variation and higher moments of wind speed that are critical in relating the non-linear effects of wind on electric power generation capability, shipping hazard, and air-sea exchanges in heat, water, and greenhouse gases. The power density dis...

A numerical ocean sea-ice model is used to demonstrate that Arctic sea ice retreat affects momentum transfer into the ocean. A thinner and thus weaker ice cover is more easily forced by the wind, which increases the momentum flux. In contrast, increasing open water reduces momentum transfer because the ice surface provides greater drag than the open water surface. We introduce the concept of op...

Physical disturbance of plants or plant parts results in a mechanical stress response from the plant. Mechanical stress applied naturally or under controlled conditions inhibits growth in mass and dimensions of major plant parts. Wind and precipitation are important natural sources of mechanical stress. Under field conditions, cultivated plants experience these natural mechanical stresses plus ...

[1] This study presents vertical profiles of turbulence parameters obtained in the upper 100 m of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean along a transect from tropical permanently stratified waters to subpolar seasonally stratified waters in July–August 2009. The focus is to fully characterize the vertical mixing along this transect for further studies related to phytoplankton and nutrient distributio...

Six-yr-long time series of winds, waves, and water velocity from a cabled coastal observatory in 12 m of water reveal the separate dependence of the cross-shelf velocity profile on cross-shelf and along-shelf winds, waves, and tides. During small waves, cross-shelf wind is the dominant mechanism driving the cross-shelf circulation after tides and tidal residual motions are removed. The along-sh...

The wind power input to the ocean general circulation is usually calculated from the time-averaged wind products. Here, this wind power input is reexamined using available observations, focusing on the role of the synoptically varying wind. Power input to the ocean general circulation is found to increase by over 70%when 6-hourly winds are used instead of monthly winds. Much of the increase occ...

Adjoint methods of sensitivity analysis were applied to the California Current using the Regional Ocean Modeling Systems (ROMS) with medium resolution, aimed at diagnosing the circulation sensitivity to variations in surface forcing. The sensitivities of coastal variations in SST, eddy kinetic energy, and baroclinic instability of complex time-evolving flows were quantified. Each aspect of the ...

Observations of the Caspian Sea during August-September 1995 are used to develop a three-dimensional numerical model to be used in calculating temperature and current. The model has variable grid resolution and horizontal smoothing that filters out small scale vertical motion. Data from the meteorological buoy network on the Caspian Sea are combined with routine observations at first-order syno...