THEORY OF CURRENTS IN THE BAROCLINIC OCEAN

• Main Author: Lineikin,P. S.
• Other Authors: RAND CORP SANTA MONICA CALIF
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1967
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; (*OCEAN CURRENTS; ATLANTIC OCEAN); MOTION; WIND; THERMAL PROPERTIES; DEEP WATER; SHEAR STRESSES; INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW; HYDRODYNAMICS; ASYMPTOTIC SERIES; FUNCTIONS(MATHEMATICS); North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0660904; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0660904

The study examines the steady dynamical system consisting of: the linearized equations of horizontal motion including wind stress, pressure and Coriolis forces, the hydrostatic equation, the continuity equation for an incompressible fluid, and a thermodynamic equation balancing the three-dimensional density advection with vertical and horizontal density diffusion. Only this last equation is non-linear. By introducing an integral function of the density perturbation (from which the dependent variables of current and pressure may be found--a technique first used by Welander), an asymptotic solution is obtained under certain conditions. Although no numerical data are given, it is stated that for representative values of the parameters the solutions provide a realistic portrayal of: the mid-latitude depth of no motion in the North Atlantic Ocean, the decreasing depth of windstress and surface thermal influence with distance southward (in the Northern Hemisphere), and the condition of rising motion in the deeper water. (Author) Trans. of Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya (USSR) n2 p3-8 1967.