Untangling a Web of Interactions Where Surf Meets Coastal Ocean

Lerczak, James A.; Barth, John A.; Celona, Sean; Chickadel, C. Chris; Colosi, John A.; Feddersen, Falk; Haller, Merrick C.; Haney, Sean; Lenain, Luc; MacKinnon, Jennifer A.; MacMahan, James; Melville, Ken; O’Dea, Annika; Smit, Pieter; Waterhouse, Amy F.; Xu, TongTong

doi:10.1029/2019eo122141

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…We utilize a subset of the Inner Shelf Dynamics Experiment data (Lerczak et al 2019) to focus on the region offshore of Oceano ( Fig. 1), north of Point Sal, California.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coastal internal waves (IWs) have piqued scientific interest since the 1960s (Perry and Schimke 1965;Cairns 1967;Lee 1961), resulting in a growing number of observational and modeling studies. They have been observed worldwide, including Massachusetts Bay (Chereskin 1983;Scotti et al 2008;Thomas et al 2016), the South China Sea (Alford et al 2010;Li and Farmer 2011), Southern and Central California (Lerczak et al 2003;Walter et al 2012;Colosi et al 2018), the Australian northwest shelf (Holloway et al 1997), the Oregon coast (Stanton and Ostrovsky 1998;Moum et al 2003), and the New Jersey shelf (Shroyer et al 2011). These waves contribute substantially to transport and mixing on continental shelves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The 2017 Inner Shelf Dynamics Experiment (Lerczak et al 2019) provides a unique and well-resolved dataset to study the propagation and evolution of internal bores from the mid (;100-m depth) to inner (;10 m) shelf of central California. Focusing on a region with roughly alongshore uniform bathymetry that shallows linearly to the coast, we quantify temporal (subtidal and boreto-bore) and cross-shore variations in the waveguide by calculating a at 15 moorings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observations of Shoaling Nonlinear Internal Bores across the Central California Inner Shelf

McSweeney

Lerczak

Barth

et al. 2020

Journal of Physical Oceanography

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We present observations of shoaling nonlinear internal bores off the coast of central California. The dataset includes 15 moorings deployed during September–October 2017 and cross-shore shipboard surveys. We describe the cross-shore structure and evolution of large-amplitude internal bores as they transit from 9 km (100-m depth) to 1 km offshore (10 m). We observe that two bores arrive each semidiurnal period, both propagating from the southwest; of the total, 72% are tracked to the 10-m isobath. The bore speeds are subtidally modulated, but there is additional bore-to-bore speed variability that is unexplained by the upstream stratification. We quantify temporal and cross-shore variability of the waveguide (the background conditions through which bores propagate) by calculating the linear longwave nonrotating phase speed co and using the nonlinearity coefficient of the Korteweg–de Vries equation α as a metric for stratification. Bore fronts are generally steeper when α is positive and are more rarefied when α is negative, and we observe the bore’s leading edge to rarefy from a steep front when α is positive offshore and negative inshore. High-frequency α fluctuations, such as those nearshore driven by wind relaxations, contribute to bore-to-bore variability of the cross-shore evolution during similar subtidal waveguide conditions. We compare observed bore speeds with co and the rotating group velocities cg, concluding that observed speeds are always faster than cg and are slower than co at depths greater than 32 m and faster than co at depths of less than 32 m. The bores maintain a steady speed while transiting into shallower water, contrary to linear estimates that predict bores to slow.

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“…We utilize a subset of the Inner Shelf Dynamics Experiment data (Lerczak et al 2019) to focus on the region offshore of Oceano ( Fig. 1), north of Point Sal, California.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observations of Shoaling Nonlinear Internal Bores across the Central California Inner Shelf

McSweeney

Lerczak

Barth

et al. 2020

Journal of Physical Oceanography

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“…In the fall of 2017, multiple institutions participated in the Inner Shelf Dynamics Experiment funded by an Office of Naval Research Departmental Research Initiative (ISDE; Kumar et al., 2020; Lerczak et al., 2019). The experiment consisted of observations spanning 50 km alongshore on the Central CA coast, centered on the asymmetric rocky headland Pt.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vorticity Recirculation and Asymmetric Generation at a Small Headland With Broadband Currents

et al. 2021

Self Cite

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“…The inner shelf, the link between the coastal ocean and sandy beaches and rocky shores, is made difficult to observe by breaking waves and strong currents. Recently, a multi-institutional group of coastal oceanographers took the challenge of measuring in the inner shelf using over 150 moorings with temperature sensors and ADCPs from the 50-m isobath to the surfzone off Point Sal, California (Lerczak et al 2019). This array, motivated by the 1980s CODE program, Coastal locations for the CODE large-scale analysis grid showing wind (triangles) and sea level stations (circles).…”

Section: E Multiscale Multiplatform Coastal Ocean Observingmentioning

confidence: 99%

100 Years of Progress in Ocean Observing Systems

Davis

Talley

Roemmich

et al. 2019

Meteorological Monographs

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The history of over 100 years of observing the ocean is reviewed. The evolution of particular classes of ocean measurements (e.g., shipboard hydrography, moorings, and drifting floats) are summarized along with some of the discoveries and dynamical understanding they made possible. By the 1970s, isolated and “expedition” observational approaches were evolving into experimental campaigns that covered large ocean areas and addressed multiscale phenomena using diverse instrumental suites and associated modeling and analysis teams. The Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment (MODE) addressed mesoscale “eddies” and their interaction with larger-scale currents using new ocean modeling and experiment design techniques and a suite of developing observational methods. Following MODE, new instrument networks were established to study processes that dominated ocean behavior in different regions. The Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program gathered multiyear time series in the tropical Pacific to understand, and eventually predict, evolution of coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomena like El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) sought to quantify ocean transport throughout the global ocean using temperature, salinity, and other tracer measurements along with fewer direct velocity measurements with floats and moorings. Western and eastern boundary currents attracted comprehensive measurements, and various coastal regions, each with its unique scientific and societally important phenomena, became home to regional observing systems. Today, the trend toward networked observing arrays of many instrument types continues to be a productive way to understand and predict large-scale ocean phenomena.

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Untangling a Web of Interactions Where Surf Meets Coastal Ocean

Abstract: In 2017, an ocean research team launched an unprecedented effort to understand what drives ocean currents in the overlap regions between surf zones and continental shelves.

Cited by 15 publications

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Observations of Shoaling Nonlinear Internal Bores across the Central California Inner Shelf

Observations of Shoaling Nonlinear Internal Bores across the Central California Inner Shelf

Vorticity Recirculation and Asymmetric Generation at a Small Headland With Broadband Currents

100 Years of Progress in Ocean Observing Systems

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