A Modeling Study of Eulerian and Lagrangian Aspects of Shelf Circulation off Duck, North Carolina

Abstract

The effects of wind-forced upwelling and downwelling on the continental shelf off Duck, North Carolina, are studied through experiments with a two-dimensional numerical primitive equation model. Moored and shipboard measurements obtained during August‐November 1994 as part of the Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) Inner Shelf Study (ISS) are used for model‐data comparisons. The model is initialized with realistic stratification and forced with observed wind and heat flux data. Both strongly stratified and weakly stratified conditions, found during August and October, respectively, are studied. August is characterized by fluctuating alongshelf wind direction, and October is dominated by downwelling-favorable winds. The across-shelf momentum balance is primarily geostrophic on the continental shelf. The alongshelf momentum balance is mainly between the Coriolis force and vertical diffusion with additional contributions from the local acceleration and nonlinear advection terms. The model solutions are utilized to acquire detailed information on the time- and space-dependent variability of the across-shelf circulation and transport and to investigate the dependence of this circulation on the seasonal change in stratification. When the stratification breaks down, as in October, the across-shelf transport is reduced significantly in comparison with the theoretical Ekman transport for large wind stress values. The paths of individual model water parcels are traced using two methods: calculation of Lagrangian trajectories and time evolution of three Lagrangian label fields. The August period produces complex Lagrangian dynamics because of the switching between upwelling and downwelling winds. The October period illustrates a mean downwelling response that advects parcels across and along the shelf and vertically.