Premium
Wind‐Driven Currents in a “Wide” Narrow Channel, With Application to Douglas Channel, BC
Author(s) -
Wan Di,
Hannah Charles G.,
Cummins Patrick F.,
Foreman Michael G. G.,
Dosso Stan E.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2021jc017887
Subject(s) - stratification (seeds) , wind stress , outflow , channel (broadcasting) , geology , surface layer , meteorology , wind speed , scaling , environmental science , climatology , oceanography , layer (electronics) , engineering , geometry , geography , materials science , telecommunications , seed dormancy , botany , germination , mathematics , dormancy , composite material , biology
This paper applies a structured grid, 3‐Dimensional Regional Ocean Modeling System to examine wind‐driven currents of an idealized stratified channel, representative of Douglas Channel, British Columbia, Canada, where the increased marine activities require an improved understanding of the physical oceanography. The surface along‐channel elevation slope resulting from the wind stress is strongly affected by the surface stratification and can serve as a proxy for gauging surface stratification in operational systems. In the case of strong surface stratification, due to rotational effects an apparently narrow (width ≪ length) channel can be dynamically wide with pronounced cross‐channel variation. The thickness of the surface wind‐driven layer is scaled using the thermal wind relation, which provides a scaling factor to estimate the thickness of the surface layer. This scaling factor is not restricted to the wind‐driven flow and could be expanded to the surface mean estuarine outflow layers.