A stochastic model is derived from wind stress and bottom pressure gauge data to examine the response of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport to wind stress forcing. A general method is used to estimate the drift and diffusion coefŽ cients of a continuous stationaryMarkovian system. As a Ž rst approximation, the response of the ACC to wind stress forcing can be describedby a multiv...

[1] This paper uses the results from two multiseason numerical model simulations of Lake Michigan hydrodynamics to examine the relative effects of wind stress curl, topography, and stratification on large-scale circulation. The multiseason simulations provide a period long enough to encompass the full range of atmospheric and thermal conditions that can occur in the lake. The purpose of this pa...

The multiple equilibria of the thermohaline circulation (THC: used here in the sense of the meridional overturning circulation) as function of the surface freshwater flux has been studied intensively following a Stommel paper from 1961. It is shown here that multistability and hysteresis of the THC also exist when the wind stress amplitude is varied as a control parameter. Both the Massachusett...

Our purpose is to detect ocean surface features, specifically oceanic thermal fronts, through analysis of SAR (synthetic aperture radar)-derived wind stress fields. Fine-resolution measurements of near-surface wind speeds over the Gulf Stream region of the Northwest Atlantic were made using SAR images collected by RADARSAT-2. Linear statistical relationships between the wind stress curl and div...

While sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific are dominated by the thermocline feedback, in the central equatorial Pacific local wind effects, such as zonal advection, are important as well. El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) simulations with a linear model improve markedly if these effects are included as a local wind stress feedback on SST. An atmosphere mod...

The coherence between single bottom pressure .4 barotropic velocity records collected in the North •c during BEM• and air pressure, wind stress, and wind stress cuff derived from FNOC products are examined •ov• the 2-'00-1 day period band. Strong coherence between the bottom pressure and all atmospheric variables is seen, with nonlocal coherence (maximum up to 1000 km to the southeast) dominati...

[1] The seasonal cycle of the near-surface circulation off central Chile was analyzed using satellite altimetry and an oceanic model. To evaluate the role of the wind stress curl on the circulation we performed two identical simulations except for the wind-forcing: the “control run” used long-term monthly mean wind stress and the “no-curl run” used a similar wind stress field, but without curl....

Using a combination of Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), and Lagrangian drifter measurements, we demonstrate that wind data alone are not sufficient to derive ocean surface stress (momentum flux) over mid-latitude ocean fronts, specifically the Kuroshio Extension. There was no continuous and large-scale stress measurement ove...

This note studies the response of a simple linear baroclinic coastal-upwelling model to fluctuating longshore winds. Correlations between wind stress and velocities are computed explicitly. It is shown that these correlations depend primarily upon the wind-~ spectrum and that. for a realistic spectrum, the wind stress leads the longshore velocity by approximately one day. The computed correlati...