The evolution of boundary pressure in ocean basins

Abstract

The boundary pressure adjustment process on an ocean basin scale is elucidated in two sets of numerical experiments. First, an initial-value problem is posed in a primitive equation shallow-water model that leads to significant changes in the pressure averaged along the boundary in a closed rectangular ocean basin. These results are compared with the analogous problem in a shallow-water quasigeostrophic model where the boundary pressure adjustment is parameterized by a consistency constraint that closes the mass, circulation, and energy balances in quasigeostrophy. The experiments demonstrate a coupling between short time scale motions of the coastal waveguide and longer time scale motions on the ocean interior. -from Authors