Mechanisms of shelf-break frontogenesis

作     者：CHEN Dake 

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics Second Institute of Oceanography State Oceanic Administra-tion Hangzhou 310012 China Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University Palisades New York USA 

出 版 物：《Acta Oceanologica Sinica》 (海洋学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第27卷第Z1期

页      面：9-20页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0707[理学-海洋科学] 

基　　金：the National Basic Reasearch Program of China under contract No. 2007CB816003 

主　　题：shelf-break front air-sea interaction shear dispersion 

摘      要：The shelf-break front is an omnipresent phenomenon in coastal oceans all over the world, but there is still no definitive explanation for the genesis of such a front. It is possible that different mechanisms are operative at different times and locations, but all of them should have something to do with the sharp change of bottom topography near the shelf-break. A couple of recently proposed mechanisms of shelf-break frontogenesis are dicussed. One of them invokes a flow convergence produced by local air-sea interaction over sloping topography, whereas the other relies on the depth dependence of wind-induced shear dispersion. These novel ideas are based on new observational evidences and previous theoretical studies, and they are demonstrated here using an idealized ocean-atmosphere coupled model and a stand-alone ocean model. The air-sea interaction mechanism seems plausible for the shelf-break front in the East China Sea, and the shear dispersion mechanism is likely to be applicable to the shelf-break front off the northeastern United States.