A numerical investigation of western boundary currents in subtropical and subpolar gyres with a barotropic model

Abstract

Dynamics of western boundary currents in the subtropical and subpolar gyres are studied as a source-sink flow of barotropic fluid by means of numerical integration of the time-dependent non-linear vorticity equation. The bottom topography consists of a continental shelf of uniform slope (120 km wide) parallel to the straight western coast and a flat bottom of uniform depth.

The steady solution in the case of low Reynolds number (Re≦100) shows the vorticity balance of the western boundary current between theβ-, diffusion-, and bottom relief terms. The cuspidated flow of the western boundary current in the subpolar gyre is observed as a compensating flow for the subtropical western boundary current separating from the western coast.

In the case of Re=350, the zonal current separating from the coast meanders with the wave length of the stationary Rossby waves. It is shown that in the present model the separation of the boundary current is controlled by the planetary vorticity (f) of the fluid particle in the boundary flow, with which the same particle flows out the eastern wall at the corresponding latitude. The decrease of the efflux width increases the intensity of the non-linear overshooting of the boundary current separating from the western coast.