• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Laboratory experiments on the interaction of a buoyant coastal current with a canyon : application to the East Greenland Current

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    2008JPO4028.1.pdf (1.579Mb)
    Date
    2009-05
    Author
    Sutherland, David A.  Concept link
    Cenedese, Claudia  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4005
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JPO4028.1
    DOI
    10.1175/2008JPO4028.1
    Keyword
     Coastal flows; Buoyancy; Currents; Experimental design; Topographic effects 
    Abstract
    This paper presents a set of laboratory experiments focused on how a buoyant coastal current flowing over a sloping bottom interacts with a canyon and what controls the separation, if any, of the current from the upstream canyon bend. The results show that the separation of a buoyant coastal current depends on the current width W relative to the radius of curvature of the bathymetry ρc. The flow moved across the mouth of the canyon (i.e., separated) for W/ρc > 1, in agreement with previous results. The present study extends previous work by examining both slope-controlled and surface-trapped currents, and using a geometry specific to investigating buoyant current–canyon interaction. The authors find that, although bottom friction is important in setting the position of the buoyant front, the separation process driven by the inertia of the flow could overcome even the strongest bathymetric influence. Application of the laboratory results to the East Greenland Current (EGC), an Arctic-origin buoyant current that is observed to flow in two branches south of Denmark Strait, suggests that the path of the EGC is influenced by the large canyons cutting across the shelf, as the range of W/ρc in the ocean spans those observed in the laboratory. What causes the formation of a two-branched EGC structure downstream of the Kangerdlugssuaq Canyon (68°N, 32°W) is still unclear, but potential mechanisms are discussed.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 39 (2009): 1258-1271, doi:10.1175/2008JPO4028.1.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 39 (2009): 1258-1271
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      The East Greenland Coastal Current : structure, variability, and forcing 

      Sutherland, David A.; Pickart, Robert S. (2008-03-12)
      The subtidal circulation of the southeast Greenland shelf is described using a set of high-resolution hydrographic and velocity transects occupied in summer 2004. The main feature is the East Greenland Coastal Current ...
    • Thumbnail

      A coastal current in winter : 2. Wind forcing and cooling of a coastal current east of Cape Cod 

      Shcherbina, Andrey Y.; Gawarkiewicz, Glen G. (American Geophysical Union, 2008-10-18)
      The combined effect of cooling and wind-driven buoyancy flux (WDBF) on a buoyant coastal current east of Cape Cod is investigated using observations and process-oriented numerical modeling. Theoretical considerations show ...
    • Thumbnail

      A coastal current in winter : autonomous underwater vehicle observations of the coastal current east of Cape Cod 

      Shcherbina, Andrey Y.; Gawarkiewicz, Glen G. (American Geophysical Union, 2008-07-28)
      Evolution of the coastal current structure on the shallow continental shelf east of Cape Cod was studied using autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys and moored observations during the winters of 2005 and 2006. A ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo