Oceanographic mesoscale features off the west Greenland coast: Satellite image analysis and modelling.

摘要

The establishment of a station to receive National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite data at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, St. John's. Newfoundland in 1994 greatly expanded the AVHRR coverage of the coastal waters of the Newfoundland and Labrador region to include the West and East Greenland waters. The thermal infrared imagery selected from the data received at this station provide a valuable new perspective on oceanographic phenomena occurring in the waters off the coast of West Greenland. This perspective could not be attained using conventional shipboard and in situ oceanographic measurement techniques. A rich spectrum of mesoscale oceanographic features is revealed in the analyzed thermal infrared imagery, and the spatial and temporal scales of the various features such as West Greenland Current meanders, frontal waves and eddies are described first in this thesis. Then, a three-dimensional, primitive equation, regional, ocean circulation model of the West Greenland region based on the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Modular Ocean Model (MOM2-version 2) code is used to elucidate the dynamics involved in modelling the current meanders and eddies. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).