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A two-layer model of Gulf Stream separation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

A. T. Parsons
A. T. Parsons
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Present address: Admiralty Research Laboratory, Teddington.
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Abstract

A study is made of the wind-driven circulation of a two-layer ocean within a square basin, with a view to describing the observed separation of western boundary currents. The lower layer is allowed to surface and the line along which the upper-layer depth vanishes is interpreted as the region of the surfacing thermocline. For a representative wind stress the theory predicts the gross features of the Gulf Stream flow, the region adjacent to the surfacing line containing the separated boundary current. By assuming that the effects of friction and inertia are confined to regions of a boundary-layer character, the position of a separated current is shown to depend only on the degree of stratification and certain integral properties of the applied wind stress.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , 27 November 1969 , pp. 511 - 528
Copyright
© 1969 Cambridge University Press

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