Buoyant Coastal Current Dynamics over a Slope

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

0095059/Helfrich This project addresses the dynamics of buoyant coastal plumes of the sort produced by fresh-water river discharge. The main goal is to provide a quantitative description of buoyant coastal currents over a sloping bottom. The structure of such currents will be explored with a combination of analysis of existing observational data, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. Existing theoretical estimates of the width of the current, the depth of the offshore edge, and the speed of advance of the nose of the current will be tested. The observational data are from an experiment in the Chesapeake Plume. The laboratory data will come from experiments in a rotating tank. The numerical model is a version of the Princeton Ocean Model (ECOM3d).