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Coastal ocean response to summer upwelling favorable winds in a region of alongshore bottom topography variations off Oregon

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Field Value
Title Coastal ocean response to summer upwelling favorable winds in a region of alongshore bottom topography variations off Oregon
Names Castelao, Renato M. (creator)
Barth, John A. (creator)
Date Issued 2005 (iso8601)
Note copyrighted by American Geophysical Union
Abstract Repeated mesoscale surveys of waters over the shelf and slope off Oregon were
conducted during spring and summer of 2001 to study the spatial structure of the velocity
and hydrographic fields. The ocean response to wind forcing is compared between a
region of relatively simple topography with alongshore uniformity and a region of
complex topography including a shallow submarine bank (Heceta Bank). In the simple
topography region the upper water column is influenced by upwelling and fresh water
from the Columbia River during spring, with the low-salinity water located farther
offshore during summer. Variability in the fields is mostly confined within 30 km from the
coast. Over Heceta Bank the region of higher variability is broader, spanning most of the
shelf. The coastal upwelling jet is located inshore of the pinnacle of the bank during
spring, moving offshore during summer. The region inshore of the bank is characterized
by low velocities and flow recirculation. Near-surface fields show that the circulation
evolves considerably between seasons. In both regions the area influenced by upwelled
water is much broader during summer. Dense waters found over midshelf off Newport are
upwelled to the north and advected south. Dense waters inshore of Heceta Bank are
substantially influenced by water from the north during spring, but their source is mostly
from the south during summer. South of the bank, the separation of the jet significantly
increases the cross-isobath transport, constituting an efficient mechanism for transport of
material from the shelf into deeper waters.
Genre Article
Identifier Castelao, R. M. and Barth, J. A., 2005, Coastal ocean response to summer upwelling favorable winds in a region of alongshore bottom topography variations off Oregon : J. Geophys. Res., v. 110, C10S04.

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