On the roles of vertical velocity and eddy conductivity in maintaining a thermocline

Steady-state solutions of the vertical heat-balance equation have been obtained for various assumed vertical profiles of the vertical component of velocity and eddy conductivity. Relationships have been found for the depth and the thickness of the thermocline in terms of parameters that characterize the vertical velocity and eddy conductivity. Two of the solutions agree with observations in regions having respectively divergent and convergent Ekman mass transport

Classic Article: Gravitational circulation in straits and estuaries

A coupled set of partial differential equations and associated boundary conditions is written to describe circulation and salt-flux processes for estuaries in which turbulent mixing results primarily from tidal currents. Similarity solutions, motivated by characteristic salinity distributions observed in estuaries, are obtained for this set of equations and are compared with observational data. The circulation is separated into modes analogous to the barotropic, baroclinic, and Ekman modes of oceanic circulation. The salinity distribution, although coupled to the velocity distribution, is found to vary independently of it as well. The theoretical results are discussed in regard to: (i) correlation between the vertical variations of mean velocity and salinity, (ii) the role of this correlation in maintaining the steady-state salinity distribution in estuaries, and (iii) some implications for computations of flushing and dispersion of contaminants

Free oscillations in a beta-plane ocean

This paper is concerned with the free oscillations in a rectangular equatorial beta-plane model of large oceans with a free surface placed symmetrically on the equator. With the depth constant and the stratification horizontally uniform, the motion may be separated into vertical modes, each having free oscillations...

Estuarine circulation induced by diffusion

Similarity solutions of the equations for estuarine circulation and salt balance are presented for a circulation generated by diffusive modification of stratification maintained at the entrance to an inlet by external dynamics rather than by fresh water discharged directly into the inlet...

Editor\u27s Commentary: Gravitational circulation in straits and estuaries

For decades, people understood the rudiments of how idealized estuaries work: fresh water flows outward above saltier water that intrudes into the estuary. At the same time, mixing smooths out contrasts, so that the ultimate shallow outflow water is much saltier that the upstream riverine inflow had been. But, this vision is qualitative, so that it is hard to predict or diagnose flow structures or the outflow salinity. Hansen and Rattray provided a major step forward in an age before any sophisticated numerical models could deal simultaneously with the many competing effects..

Salt budget in the Lake Washington ship canal system

Salt water enters the freshwater system of Lake Washington, Montlake Canal, Lake Union, Fremont Canal, and Salmon Bay through the U.S. Government Locks at Ballard…

Effects of friction and surface tide angle of incidence on the coastal generation of internal tides

For the generation of internal waves by long surface waves, the normal-mode equations and solutions that satisfy the boundary conditions in a two-layer system are found analytically. Frictional effects decrease the amplitude of an internal wave over the shelf, changing it from a standing wave to a wave that progresses coastward and decreases the interference on the amplitude of the offshore progressive wave traveling seaward. Model studies, using a two-layer system of fresh water and saline water in a 9.9-m-long channel, gave favorable results relative to the theoretical results

Interpolation Errors and Oceanographic Sampling

Office of Naval Research Contract Nonr-477(10) Project NR-083-01

Propagation and Dissipation of Long Interval Waves

Office of Naval Research. Contract N8onr-520/III. Project NR-083-01

On the Coastal Generation of Internal Tides

Office of Naval Research Contracts N8onr-520/III and Nonr 477(10) Project NR-083-01