Upper Ocean Inertial Currents Forced by a Strong Storm. I. Mixed Layer and II. Propagation into the Thermocline.

摘要

A strong October storm generated 0.35-0.7 m/s inertial frequency currents in the 35 m deep mixed layer of a 300x300 km region of the northeast Pacific Ocean. The evolution of these currents were observed for a 23 day period of weak winds following the storm using a combination of 36 surface drifters drogued at 15 m and 3 moorings with acoustic Doppler velocity profilers. These observation, plus a CTD survey, were used to describe the subinertial, geostrophic flow in this same region. Then it was tested whether the linear internal wave theory combined with advection by the measured subinertial currents can explain the observed evolution of the inertial frequency currents.