Island Wakes in Shallow Water

Abstract

ABSTRACTIsland wakes in shallow water are investigated using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In contrast to deep water where bottom stress can be neglected in island wakes, shallow water implies that inhomogeneity in the bottom stress plays an important role in the wake vorticity generation. A series of numerical experiments are conducted to investigate wake formation and evolution in shallow water. It is found that the vertical structures of shallow-water and deep-water wakes are significantly different because of the presence of a density frontal jet, which results from the interaction between stratification and bottom topography. The frontal jet reaches its maximum within the bottom boundary layer over the shelf, giving rise to vorticity. The potential vorticity (PV) balance analysis reveals that frictional and diapycnal processes play different roles in the PV anomalies. With the absence of lateral stress (i.e., a sea mountain case), the surface vorticity becomes much weaker than that in the presence of an island.