Research Summaries

Back Effects of Eddies and Waves on the Westward Transport Off Central California

Fiscal Year 2008
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Oceanography
Investigator(s) Collins, Curtis A.
Sponsor National Science Foundation (NSF)
Summary The primary goal of the proposed study is to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for westward transport observed in the California current system. The focus is on the role of mesoscale variability, e.g. eddies, jets, and waves. The approach is choose appropriate numerical model fields and to validate observed model phenomena using statistical descriptions of in situ data collected at NPS. Results should suggest a simple parameterization for the westward transport which is able to account for finite spatio-temporal correlations and self-similarity of tracer dispersion so that tracers appear to be moved with a finite velocity in a non-diffusive manner as well as develop a number of original methods for the identification and classification of coherent structures reproduced by fine-resolution models and extracted from kinematic properties of float clusters.
Keywords Ocean Eddies California Current System RAFOS Floats
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal