Response of a Two-Layer Ocean with a Baroclinic Current to a Moving Storm. Part I. Quasi-Geostrophic Baroclinic Motion.

摘要

A storm moves with a constant speed parallel to a stationary geostrophic current which flows only in the upper layer of a two-layer, infinite ocean. It is assumed that the lower layer is motionless. The quasi-geostrophic approximation is valid for a moving speed less than 4 m/sec for a storm radius of 100 km. The primary change of the upper layer thickness is caused by the wind stress divergence and the time integral of the wind stress curl. A cyclonic storm generates upwelling in its wake. The effect of the stationary flow similar to a western boundary current is minor by an order of magnitude and noticeable only on the left edge of the flow. The zeroth order perturbations of transport and thickness do not include the stationary flow which appears only in the first order perturbations in a2. When there is a coast, the change of the interface near the coast is dependent on the time integral of the wind stress component parallel to the coast, thus leading to upwelling or downwelling according to the center being to the left or right of the coastline.