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On the Circulation of the Northern North Sea and the Patagonian Shelf

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On the Circulation of the Northern North Sea and the Patagonian Shelf W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1997 On the circulation of the Northern North Sea and the Patagonian Shelf Pablo D. Glorioso College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Oceanography Commons Recommended Citation Glorioso, Pablo D., "On the circulation of the Northern North Sea and the Patagonian Shelf" (1997). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539616669. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25773/v5-vs1v-2j94 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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O n t h e Cir c u la tio n o f t h e Northern No r th Sea and t h e Pa ta g onia n Sh elf ; A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Marine Science The College of William and Mary in Virginia | In Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Pablo D. Glorioso 1997 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. U M I Number: 9815244 Copyright 1998 by Glorloso, Pablo Daniel All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9815244 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Pablo D. Glorioso ]i Approved December 1997 j ^ s — - John M. Brubaker, PhD Cjul Carl T. Friedrichs, PhD Eugene M. Burreson, PhD Evon P. Ruzecki, PhD riH<xw John H. Simpson, Professor University of Wales Bangor, United Kingdom Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE .................................................................... 2 L - INERTIAL OSCILLATIONS IN THE NORTHERN NORTH SEA ............... 5 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 5 MEASUREMENTS .......................................................................................................10 Background ............................................................................................................... 10 Data gathering and processing .................................................................................II Meteorological conditions ........................................................................................13 STRATIFICATION VARIABILITY .......................................................................... 17 CURRENTS VARIABILITY........................................................................................19 INERTIAL CURRENTS AND NORMAL MODES ................................................ 22 INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATIONS ............................................................. 26 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................. 31 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 35 2 - THE CIRCULATION ON THE PATAGONIAN SH ELF ................................. 36 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 36 THE NUMERICAL M O D EL....................................................................................... 39 Brief description ........................................................................................................ 39 Implementation to the Patagonian S h e lf ................................................................. 41 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TID ES..............................................................................................................................43 Background .............................................................................................................. 43 Tidal constituents ......................................................................................................46 Tidal energy .............................................................................................................. 54 THE FALKLAND CURRENT.....................................................................................60 Background .............................................................................................................. 60 The Falkland C urrent................................................................................................60 WIND-DRIVEN CURRENTS ..................................................................................... 66 Background .............................................................................................................. 66 Wind-driven currents................................................................................................67 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION.................................................................................69 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER WORK ...................................................72 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 78 OVERALL CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................... 79 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 81 VITA ..............................................................................................................................92 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr John Brubaker for his encouragement, advice, and support, particularly because long time ago I did not follow the advice of not taking up a full-time job before concluding the dissertation, and he considered that an extension of my time limit was worthwhile. I cannot say that I regret now to have taken that decision, since I enjoyed very much all these years at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), and my gratitude extends to John Howarth, Roger Flather and Alan Davies of POL for their interest and for allowing me to use the data set of the Northern North Sea, the spectral analysis program and the hydrodynamic models. I also appreciate very much the advice and comments from the members of the committee, Drs Evon Ruzecki, Carl Friedrichs, Eugene Burreson and Prof John Simpson of the University of Wales, and the consideration and understanding of Prof Peter Van Veld and the Academic Status and Degrees Committee for granting me the time needed to complete this dissertation. This work has been supported by a scholarship
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