Recent studies have identified the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) as a decadal mode of climate variability that is linked to previously unexplained fluctuations of salinity, nutrient, and chlorophyll in the Northeast Pacific. The NPGO reflects changes in strength of the central and eastern branches of the subtropical gyre and is driven by the atmosphere through the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) -the second dominant mode of sea level pressure variability. We show that Rossby waves dynamics excited by the NPO propagate the NPGO signature from the central North Pacific into the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension (KOE), and trigger changes in strength of the KOE with a lag of 3 years. This suggests that the NPGO index can be used to track changes in the entire northern branch of the North Pacific sub-tropical gyre. These results also provide a physical mechanism to explain coherent decadal climate variations and ecosystem changes between the North Pacific eastern and western boundaries.

In this thesis, the phenomenon of flow-topography interaction is considered in the context of two dynamically distinct case studies. In the first study, tidally-driven upwelling is investigated usingfield data collected in Hydrographers Passage (20????S), a narrow, navigable channel in the dense outer reef matrix of the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. In the second study, island wake formations at Cato Island (155????32????E, 23????15????S) in the deep, Western Coral Sea are examined using a combination of field data and numerical experiments. The result of the Hydrographers Passage study are of considerable scientific interest since they apply to numerous smaller non-navigable reef-edge passages dotted throughout the southern Great Barrier Reef. Strong, semi-diurnal flood tides flowing through a gap in a distal patch reef system at the shelf break generate strong upwelling, providing a pulsed, semi-diurnal input of nutrients to the reefs offshore of the passage. If stable in the long term, this mechanism could have profound evolutionary implications for large reefal areas in the southern Great Barrier Reef. In the second study, two sets of field observations at Cato Island coincided with conditions of strong (~0.7m s-1), vertically sheared incident currents and weaker (~0.3m s-1), more variable incident flows. The combination of dynamically distinct flow regimes and a tall, steep-sided island penetrating oligotrophic surface waters provides a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of island wakes on hydrographic structure and biological enhancement. Field data indicate that flow disturbances downstream of Cato Island are likely to generate biological enhancement during conditions of eddy shedding and non-shedding wakes. A primitive equation numerical model configured on the basis of field observations faithfully reproduces the key features of both data sets; mechanisms responsible for producing these key features are proposed. Previous numerical studies of island wakes have concentrated primarily on eddy shedding flows. In this thesis, the sub-critical (non-shedding) flow scenario is also considered. It is demonstrated that particle retention in island wakes has a ????hair trigger???? characteristic controlled by incident flow speed. This observation leads to a new proposal to explain the long-standing recruitment problem of biological oceanography.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Sharon Nicholson, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Meteorology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Aug. 26, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-265).

Thesis (M.S.) -- Mississippi State University. Department of Computational Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Physical Oceanography)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Mary L. Batteen, Curtis A. Collins. Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-88). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-131). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1977. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-197).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii, 1966. / Bibliography: leaves [14]-16.