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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • diurnal wind
  • New York Bight
  • coastal ocean circulation

Index Terms

  • Oceanography: General: Continental shelf and slope processes
  • Oceanography: General: Diurnal, seasonal, and annual cycles
  • Oceanography: Physical: Currents
  • Oceanography: General: Coastal processes

Abstract

Spatial and temporal variability of diurnal wind forcing in the coastal ocean

Eli Hunter

Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Robert Chant

Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Louis Bowers

Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Scott Glenn

Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Josh Kohut

Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Spatial and temporal variability of diurnal wind forcing and the coastal response is characterized for the New York Bight from February through May, 2005. This analysis demonstrates that diurnal wind forced motions are significant in the coastal ocean during the spring and summer months, near shore and as far as 100 km offshore. A doubling of diurnal current amplitudes is common in the spring compared to the winter months, associated with an increase in sea/land breeze days. Diurnal fluid motions due to sea/land breeze events can account for up 50% of the total kinetic energy during the spring.

Received 29 November 2006; accepted 3 January 2007; published 7 February 2007.

Citation: Hunter, E., R. Chant, L. Bowers, S. Glenn, and J. Kohut (2007), Spatial and temporal variability of diurnal wind forcing in the coastal ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L03607, doi:10.1029/2006GL028945.

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