Observations of the coastal upwelling region off Oregon during 1972

• Main Author: Huyer, Adriana, 1945-
• Other Authors: Smith, Robert L., School of Oceanography, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Coasts > Oregon; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/g158bk67s

Observations of wind, currents, sea level and hydrography obtained during the 1972 Coastal Upwelling Experiment (CUE-I) are described. Only phenomena with periods longer than a day are considered. One section describes the changes observed during a period of variable winds in early July 1972. Another describes a ribbon of relatively cool water observed early in the upwelling season and attributes its existence to advection of Subarctic water by the coastal jet associated with upwelling. A third section describes the seasonal development of the upwelling regime between April and October 1972. These studies are combined with other studies of CUE-I data to provide a partial description of the upwelling regime which is compared to the conceptual model developed prior to CUE-I. It is concluded that the vertical and onshore velocity fields are as yet largely unknown. The alongshore velocity field includes southward surface flow with a coastal jet, a persistent vertical shear with deeper velocities northward relative to the surface and high coherence with the wind and sea level at periods of several days. A poleward undercurrent is observed, but it may not be an integral part of the upwelling regime. The hydrography has a strong seasonal cycle. Differences between any two sections between April and October l972 are smaller than between any of these and a section occupied in January 1973. Oscillations in the wind with periods of several days cause significant changes in the region inshore of 10 km and in the upper 20 m further offshore. Subsurface temperature observations are not coherent with the wind at periods of several days.