THE COASTAL CURRENT CIRCULATION DURING THE ORANGE RIVER FLOOD 1988
| Autor: | J. R. E. Lutjeharms, G. B. Brundrit, L. V. Shannon, J. J. Agenbag, A. J. Boyd, F. A. Shillington |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1990 |
| Předmět: |
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category River flood Baroclinity Drainage basin General Medicine Orange (colour) Plume Anticyclone Barotropic fluid Climatology General Earth and Planetary Sciences Satellite imagery General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Geology General Environmental Science |
| Zdroj: | Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 47:307-330 |
| ISSN: | 2154-0098 0035-919X |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00359199009520245 |
| Popis: | SUMMARY The flow of the Orange River into the Atlantic ocean increased dramatically at the end of February 1988 in response to high rainfall in the catchment areas upstream. This coastal flow is discussed in the light of both barotropic and baroclinic models so as to be able to set up the appropriate dynamical framework for the observations. The surface signal of the warm, fresh river water was deduced from NOAA 9 and LANDSAT satellite imagery, and is shown to form a large anticyclonic eddy (40 km in diameter) at the mouth of the river, and subsequently to flow southwards along the coast in a narrow (15 km wide) plume at 20 ms−1 for some 120 km. An unusual aspect of the satellite observations was the very clear thermal signal seen on 8 and 11 March 1988, which can be ascribed to the fact that very light winds prevailed at this time. Such a flow is to be expected from the theoretical dynamics in the absence of local wind. Later observations showed that after the south-easterly wind increased on 16/17 March... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|