On the detection of continental shelf waves.

Abstract

This paper advances the theme - that shelf waves can be detected by examining the cross-shelf dimension - with the support of two techniques. First, rotary spectral analysis is performed to gain a general picture. Then, at specific frequencies, the theoretically computed shelf wave curves for various modes are fitted across the shelf by the least-squares method to the observed current data, to determine which modes are excited. Data collected from the Oregon shelf during the CUE-2 experiment (July-August, 1973) are used to illustrate these two techniques.