Date of Award

Summer 1987

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Ocean & Earth Sciences

Program/Concentration

Oceanography

Committee Director

Larry P. Atkinson

Committee Member

Jackson O. Blanton

Committee Member

Lie-Yauw Oey

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.O35L68

Abstract

The stratification present on the South Atlantic Bight (SAB) during the summertime is influenced by creative forces, namely surface heating, precipitation, fresh water runoff and advection of Gulf Stream water, and destructive forces, these being wind, bottom currents, tides, evaporation and cooling. During the summer of 1981 the Georgia Bight Experiment II (GABEX II) was conducted to evaluate the Gulf Stream intrusions on the shelf dynamics. Calculations using potential energy as an indicator of stratification showed that the mixing forces were strong enough to destroy the stratification if the advection of buoyancy is ignored. During this period, however, the potential energy was actually increasing, indicating increasing stratification. Thus the advective buoyancy flux must be larger than all other sources of buoyancy and mixing. Therefore, the advection of buoyancy onto the SAB shelf must be considered as an important parameter when studying the shelf dynamics of this area during the summer.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/vqzv-fy78

Download

Included in

Oceanography Commons

Share

COinS