Atmospheric and oceanic mesoscale flows in the Monterey Bay, California region

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:467689

Wilczak, J M; Neff, W D; Schmidt, J ^[1]; Ruffieux, D ^[2]

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1. NOAA, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. CIRES, Boulder, CO (United States)

Monterey Bay, California, is an area that includes a complex coastline and mountainous terrain. The topography includes the extensive ridges and valleys of the Coastal Mountains, as well as isolated mountain peaks. Because of this, complex atmospheric and oceanic processes are often present that frequently are coupled phenomena, occurring simultaneously and interdependently. CODAR, a coastal radar used for measuring ocean surface currents, often shows surface currents in Monterey Bay changing significantly over periods of several hours. This suggests that the current forcing is dominated by rapidly changing processes, such as tidal oscillations or near-surface winds. A major feature observed in the CODAR data is a cyclonic oceanic gyre that develops within Monterey Bay. CODAR observations to date suggest that this gyre forms predominantly during nighttime hours, and that it can persist for many hours. The fact that it forms almost exclusively during nighttime hours implies that tidal mechanisms are not an important factor in its formation. To investigate the possibility of atmospheric forcing being responsible for the formation of the oceanic gyre, the high-resolution, nested, nonhydrostatic, RAMS atmospheric mesoscale model has been adapted and run for the Monterey Bay area.

• OSTI ID: 467689
• Report Number(s): CONF-9409461--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CALIFORNIA
COASTAL REGIONS
COMPLEX TERRAIN
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
R CODES
WATER CURRENTS