Some Two-Layer Models of the Shelf-Slope Front: Geostrophic Adjustment and its Maintenance

Abstract

Lamont-Doherty Geol. Obs., Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY 10964, USA J (Journal-Article) M (Marine) Two conceptual models of a two-layered frontal system are presented to study the wintertime shelf-slope front. The first model examines the geostrophic adjustment over a step topography after the fall overturning and applies only over short time scales before the nonconservative processes become important. The second model, on the other hand, examines the thermodynamic balance over longer time scales when some dissipative and mixing effects are included. From the geostrophic-adjustment model, it is found that the flat-bottom solution of a less-dense shelf water with respect to the slope water is little modified by the presence of a step. But in the case of denser shelf water, the solution shows the detachment of the spillage when the depth ratio across the step is greater than two, resembling some regional observations Ocean Technology,...