scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

Ocean dynamics

About: Ocean dynamics is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2409 publications have been published within this topic receiving 99767 citations.


Papers
More filters
Book
14 Nov 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how the Ocean-Atmosphere system is driven by transfer of properties between the atmosphere and the ocean. But they do not consider the effects of side boundaries.
Abstract: How the Ocean--Atmosphere System Is Driven. Transfer of Properties between Atmosphere and Ocean. Properties of a Fluid at Rest. Equations Satisfied by a Moving Fluid. Adjustment under Gravity in a Nonrotating System. Adjustment under Gravity of a Density-Stratified Fluid. Effect of Rotation. Gravity Waves in a Rotating Fluid. Forced Motion. Effects of Side Boundaries. The Tropics. Mid-Latitudes. Instabilities, Fronts, and the General Circulation. Units and Their SI Equivalents. Useful Values. Properties of Seawater. Properties of Moist Air. A List of Atlases and Data Sources. References. Index.

5,750 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
23 Sep 1999-Nature
TL;DR: An analysis of observational data over the past 40 years shows a dipole mode in the Indian Ocean: a pattern of internal variability with anomalously low sea surface temperatures off Sumatra and high seasurface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, with accompanying wind and precipitation anomalies.
Abstract: For the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans, internal modes of variability that lead to climatic oscillations have been recognized1,2, but in the Indian Ocean region a similar ocean–atmosphere interaction causing interannual climate variability has not yet been found3. Here we report an analysis of observational data over the past 40 years, showing a dipole mode in the Indian Ocean: a pattern of internal variability with anomalously low sea surface temperatures off Sumatra and high sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, with accompanying wind and precipitation anomalies. The spatio-temporal links between sea surface temperatures and winds reveal a strong coupling through the precipitation field and ocean dynamics. This air–sea interaction process is unique and inherent in the Indian Ocean, and is shown to be independent of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation. The discovery of this dipole mode that accounts for about 12% of the sea surface temperature variability in the Indian Ocean—and, in its active years, also causes severe rainfall in eastern Africa and droughts in Indonesia—brightens the prospects for a long-term forecast of rainfall anomalies in the affected countries.

4,385 citations

Book
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present selected theoretical topics on ocean wave dynamics, including basic principles and applications in coastal and offshore engineering, all from a deterministic point of view, and the bulk of the material deals with the linearized theory.
Abstract: The aim of this book is to present selected theoretical topics on ocean wave dynamics, including basic principles and applications in coastal and offshore engineering, all from the deterministic point of view. The bulk of the material deals with the linearized theory.

2,003 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an improved estimation of mesoscale surface ocean circulation was obtained by merging TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) and ERS-1 and -2 altimeter measurements between October 1992 and May 1998.
Abstract: This study focuses on the improved estimation of mesoscale surface ocean circulation obtained by merging TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) and ERS-1 and -2 altimeter measurements between October 1992 and May 1998. Once carefully intercalibrated and homogenized, these data are merged through an advanced global objective analysis method that allows us to correct for residual long wavelength errors and uses realistic correlation scales of ocean dynamics. The high-resolution (0.25°×0.25°) merged T/P+ERS-1 and -2 sea level anomaly maps provide more homogeneous and reduced mapping errors than either individual data set and more realistic sea level and geostrophic velocity statistics than T/P data alone. Furthermore, the merged T/P+ERS-1 and -2 maps yield eddy kinetic energy (EKE) levels 30% higher than maps of T/P alone. They also permit realistic global estimates of east and north components of EKE and their seasonal variations, to study EKE sources better. A comparison of velocity statistics with World Ocean Circulation Experiment surface drifters in the North Atlantic shows very good agreement. Comparison with contemporary current meter data in various oceanic regimes also produces comparable levels of energy and similar ratios of northward and eastward energy, showing that the maps are suitable to studying anisotropy. The T/P + ERS zonal and meridional components of the mapped currents usually present comparable rms variability, even though the variability in the Atlantic is more isotropic than that in the Pacific, which exhibits strong zonal changes. The EKE map presents a very detailed description, presumably never before achieved at a global scale. Pronounced seasonal changes of the EKE are found in many regions, notably the northeastern Pacific, the northeastern and northwestern Atlantic, the tropical oceans, and the zonally extended bands centered near 20°S in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans and at 20°N in the northwestern Pacific.

1,575 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a new conceptual model for ENSO has been constructed based upon the positive feedback of tropical ocean atmosphere interaction proposed by Bjerknes as the growth mechanism and the recharge discharge of the equatorial heat content as the phase transition mechanism suggested by Cane and Zebiak and by Wyrtki.
Abstract: A new conceptual model for ENSO has been constructed based upon the positive feedback of tropical ocean‐ atmosphere interaction proposed by Bjerknes as the growth mechanism and the recharge‐discharge of the equatorial heat content as the phase-transition mechanism suggested by Cane and Zebiak and by Wyrtki. This model combines SST dynamics and ocean adjustment dynamics into a coupled basinwide recharge oscillator that relies on the nonequilibrium between the zonal mean equatorial thermocline depth and wind stress. Over a wide range of the relative coupling coefficient, this recharge oscillator can be either self-excited or stochastically sustained. Its period is robust in the range of 3‐5 years. This recharge oscillator model clearly depicts the slow physics of ENSO and also embodies the delayed oscillator (Schopf and Suarez; Battisti and Hirst) without requiring an explicit wave delay. It can also be viewed as a mixed SST‐ocean dynamics oscillator due to the fact that it arises from the merging of two uncoupled modes, a decaying SST mode and a basinwide ocean adjustment mode, through the tropical ocean‐atmosphere coupling. The basic characteristics of this recharge oscillator, including the relationship between the equatorial western Pacific thermocline depth and the eastern Pacific SST anomalies, are in agreement with those of ENSO variability in the observations and simulations with the Zebiak‐Cane model.

1,322 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Sea surface temperature
21.2K papers, 874.7K citations
91% related
Sea ice
24.3K papers, 876.6K citations
87% related
Climate model
22.2K papers, 1.1M citations
87% related
Monsoon
16K papers, 599.8K citations
85% related
Ice sheet
16.6K papers, 781.2K citations
82% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202317
202229
202161
202078
201992
201896