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50 Years of Ocean Discovery National Science Foundation 1950-2000 (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Achievements in Physical Oceanography
Pages 44-50

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From page 44...
... following 1970, emphasis was on mesoscale varian~ty twitch was Jounce to contain By percent of the oceanic Kinetic energy) , internal waves, edge waves, mixing events, and other time-dependent processes; (3)
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From page 45...
... framework, with deep water transported to lower latitudes along western boundaries and communication between the oceans basins accomplished via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A subsequent visualization called "the great global conveyor belt" has enjoyed popular support because of its vividness, and support by chemists because of its simplicity, but it is important to keep in mind that this subject is still under active development.
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From page 46...
... It has turned out that the linear edge waves provide a linear core to the highly nonlinear coastal and littoral dynamics. Gravitational edge waves are excited by incoming surface waves depending in a complex (but predictable)
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From page 47...
... In 1969, Pekeris and Accad solved the Laplace tide equation over a world ocean with realistic topography, using the new GOLEM computer built at the Weizmann Institute.~° There was a need to compare the global computations with measurements in the open sea. Coastal tide gauges have been around for centuries, but the ability to measure deep sea tides did not come until the early 1960s when pressure gauges could be dropped freely to the deep seafloor and subsequently recalled acoustically; about 350 pelagic stations have been occupied (mostly by Cartwright)
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From page 48...
... It would appear that the three phenomena can account for a significant fraction of the ambient variance. E1 Nino has a recognizable linear component in a highly nonlinear equatorial dynamics: an equatorially trapped wave moving eastward at a rate of order 0.1 m/s (playing a role somewhat similar to the edge waves in highly nonlinear coastal and littoral dynamics)
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From page 49...
... a Fritz Fuglister for the behavior of the Gulf Stream was not able to overcome the inadequate sampling of his time. One person easily stands out in this brief account: Henry Stommel (Figure 2~.
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From page 50...
... so inevitable result of going from adventure to public service. We enter the prediction arena at a high price; our failures (and there have been many)
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Key Terms

  • internal waves
  • physical oceanography
  • woods hole
  • deep water
  • scalar fields

  • ocean circulation
  • mesoscale variability
  • littoral dynamics
  • role played
  • ocean mixing

  • global ocean
  • surface waves
  • highly nonlinear
  • western boundaries
  • smooth scalar

  • wave field
  • circulation models
  • current charts
  • physical oceanographers
  • ocean currents

  • relatively smooth
  • water formation
  • beach profile
  • recalled acoustically
  • oceanographic mainstream

  • deep seafloor
  • frank snodgrass
  • deep ocean
  • perpetual salt
  • tidal dissipation


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