Cross-Scale Coupling: Modeling Oceanic Variability from the Pacific Basin Scale to Local Coastal Domains Along the North America West Coast (NAWC); Final rept. 1 Jul 2004-30 Jun 2008

摘要

We investigate the space-time structure and causal mechanisms for cross-scale coupling (i.e., from simulations of global and basin-scale circulations and local flows) as it occurs in the oceanic circulation and water properties along the North American West Coast (NAWC) within the context of large-scale changes throughout the Pacific basin. The cross-scale coupling is manifested over a broad range of time scales, ranging from synoptic and intra- seasonal (with cross-scale communication by barotropic Rossby and coastal waves) to decadal or longer (with slowly varying quasi-equilibrium currents over the whole basin). Simulations are for both the Pacific as a whole and for the NAWC regional and local coastal (littoral) subdomains, using either eddy- excluding or eddy-permitting grid resolutions for the former and fine mesoscale resolutions for the latter.