Numerical Simulation of Topographically Forced Mesoscale Variability in a Well-Mixed Marine Layer

摘要

A simple nonlinear numerical model of a well-mixed marine layer is used to studytopographically forced mesoscale variability off coastal California. The model is used to simulate a persistent wind maximum observed near Point Conception during northwesterly winds. The model also demonstrates the development of a coastally trapped Kelvin wave and a marine-layer eddy when the large-scale forcing is suddenly reduced. The model is a one-layer, two-dimensional, gridpoint model with idealized coastal topography. The model assumes that potential temperature and wind are constant with height in the layer and that the layer is capped by an inversion. Effects of diabatic heating, water vapor, entrainment, and spatial variations of potential temperature are neglected in order to focus on topographic effects. The model solves