Modeling Studies of the Leeuwin Current off Western and Southern Australia

Batteen, Mary L.; Butler, Christopher L.

doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1998)028<2199:msotlc>2.0.co;2

Cited by 25 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Though the Leeuwin Current is always poleward off the west coast, the strength of the flow is highly seasonal with the strongest flow in winter when the opposing winds are weakest (McCreary et al, 1986;Batteen and Butler, 1998). The seasonal variability appears to depend almost completely upon the variability of the wind.…”

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1a for locations of the large-scale currents and undercurrents off the western and southern coasts of Australia). The sea surface slopes down toward the pole, so the current flows with the pressure gradient (Thompson, 1984;McCreary et al, 1986;Smith et al, 1991;Batteen and Butler, 1998).…”

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is $50 km wide, exists in the upper 250 m of the water column, and averages $30 cm s À1 with a seasonal maximum of $60 cm s À1 (Schott and McCreary, 2001). A series of eddies develop on the seaward side of the current (Griffiths and Pierce, 1986;Smith et al, 1991;Batteen and Butler, 1998;Meuleners et al, 2008). The current carries a relatively warm and low salinity water mass formed from the tropical waters off northwestern Australia (Thompson, 1984;Ridgway and Condie, 2004).…”

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Baroclinic instability dominates the coastal areas off southern Australia (Godfrey et al, 1986;Batteen and Butler, 1998). The coastal current reaches its maximum speed of $50 cm s À1 in the area offshore of Kangaroo Island where the shelf is narrowest.…”

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Batteen and Butler (1998) examined the effects of continuously forced annual Indian Ocean thermohaline gradients on the currents and eddies of the Leeuwin Current System in the absence of topography. Batteen and Huang (1998) investigated the effect of salinity on the density driven flow and found that both the temperature and salinity are required to accurately characterize the large-scale circulation of the Leeuwin Current System.…”

Section: Modeling Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Process-oriented modeling studies of the 5500-km-long boundary flow off western and southern Australia

Batteen

Miller

2009

Continental Shelf Research

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Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observational Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Modeling Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Process-oriented modeling studies of the 5500-km-long boundary flow off western and southern Australia

Batteen

Miller

2009

Continental Shelf Research

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The source of the Leeuwin Current seasonality

Ridgway

Godfrey

2015

JGR Oceans

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The seasonal circulation around the southwestern boundary of Australia is documented using sea level anomalies from satellite altimetry. Results extrapolated to the coast agree closely with tide gauge observations indicating that seasonal altimeter fields are realistic. Monthly sea level maps identify an annual propagating wave along a waveguide extending along the shelf edge, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to southern Tasmania. The annual sea level pulse does not originate from the Pacific Ocean, as annual Pacific sea level variations are completely out of phase with signals south of the Indonesian archipelago. The presence of a phase discontinuity is demonstrated in annual sea level, temperature, and salinity observations. The origin of the Leeuwin Current seasonality is in the Gulf of Carpentaria where monsoonal winds drive a massive buildup of sea level from November to December. During December–February, a sea level “pulse” emerges from the region, and rapidly propagates poleward along the western and southern Australian boundary. In the broad shelf region centered at 19°S, an independent process forms a high sea level feature when a positive heat flux anomaly induces an annual increase in sea surface temperature which is rapidly mixed through the water column by the strong regional tides. In March, the winds relax and switch to a downwelling favorable alongshore component. In this period, the sea level pulse is essentially in a quasi‐static equilibrium with the annual propagating wind systems. The change in cross‐shelf sea level gradient along the 8000 km path length at the western and southern boundaries, drives the seasonal changes in the Leeuwin Current flow.

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The combined effect of transient wind‐driven upwelling and eddies on vertical nutrient fluxes and phytoplankton dynamics along Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

et al. 2016

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We investigate the influence of wind stresses, stratification, and coastal mesoscale eddies on upwelling intensity, vertical nutrient fluxes, and phytoplankton biomass on the continental shelf off Ningaloo Reef in northwestern Australia during an austral spring‐summer period. A three‐dimensional (3‐D) hydrodynamic model, ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System), was coupled with a four‐component nitrogen‐based biogeochemical NPZD model (Nitrogen Phytoplankton Zooplankton Detritus) to resolve the shelf circulation as well as the coupled nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics within a broad shelf region surrounding Ningaloo Reef. The simulated currents, temperatures, and chlorophyll a concentrations generally agreed well with both the remotely sensed satellite images and observational data collected during a field experiment from September to November 2010. Scenario tests for an individual wind‐driven upwelling event under a variety of hypothetical physical forcing conditions showed that shelf currents and biogeochemical variables were largely a function of wind stress and stratification. However, the functional relationships derived from this single wind event could not be extrapolated to other periods of the upwelling season, due to the additional influence of 3‐D mesoscale processes on the shelf. The presence, intensification, and propagation of a coastal anticyclonic eddy during the study period strongly influenced the spatial and temporal variations in nutrient profiles, which in turn caused fluctuations in vertical nutrient fluxes that were largely independent of wind stress. These results emphasize that it is necessary to fully capture the 3‐D details of the mesoscale and submesoscale coastal dynamics to properly predict upwelling‐induced coastal phytoplankton dynamics in eddy‐intensive shelf regions such as Ningaloo Reef.

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Modeling Studies of the Leeuwin Current off Western and Southern Australia

Cited by 25 publications

References 29 publications

Process-oriented modeling studies of the 5500-km-long boundary flow off western and southern Australia

Process-oriented modeling studies of the 5500-km-long boundary flow off western and southern Australia

The source of the Leeuwin Current seasonality

The combined effect of transient wind‐driven upwelling and eddies on vertical nutrient fluxes and phytoplankton dynamics along Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

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