ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS OF THE LAKE MICHIGAN REGION Volume 2. Physical Limnology of Lake Michigan Part 1. Physical Characteristics of Lake Michigan and Its Responses to Applied Forces Part 2. Diffusion and Dispersion

摘要

This part of Volume 2 on the unique physical characteristics of Lake Michigan briefly treats basin geomorphology, water budget, light penetration, and the heat budget terms. More extensive examination is given to gravitational and frictional forces acting upon the water body, Coriolis force, and interactions between the vertical fluxes of wind-induced turbulence and heat-related buoyancy.nRepresentative responses of the Lake to applied wind forces are:(i) wind-driven currents and near-shore geotropic (Coriolis-balanced) currents, generally unidirectional but subject to frequent direction changes and reversals, and (ii) periodic currents generated by waves, principally long internal and surface waves in the form of speeches modified by the earth's rotation, constituting the free modes of oscillation of the basin.