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Baroclinic energy flux at the continental shelf edge modified by wind‐mixing
Author(s) -
R. Stephenson Gordon,
Hopkins Joanne E.,
Mattias Green J. A.,
Inall Mark E.,
Palmer Matthew R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl062627
Subject(s) - baroclinity , stratification (seeds) , geology , internal tide , energy flux , storm , continental shelf , flux (metallurgy) , oceanography , atmospheric sciences , climatology , internal wave , physics , seed dormancy , botany , germination , materials science , astronomy , dormancy , metallurgy , biology
Temperature and current measurements from two moorings onshore of the Celtic Sea shelf break, a well‐known hot spot for tidal energy conversion, show the impact of passing summer storms on the baroclinic wavefield. Wind‐driven vertical mixing changed stratification to permit an increased on‐shelf energy transport, and baroclinic energy in the semidiurnal band appeared at the moorings 1–4 days after the storm mixed the upper 50 m of the water column. The timing of the maximum in the baroclinic energy flux is consistent with the propagation of the semidiurnal internal tide from generation sites at the shelf break to the moorings 40 km away. Also, the ∼3 day duration of the peak in M 2 baroclinic energy flux at the moorings corresponds to the restratification time scale following the first storm.