Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 1980. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-130).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 1995. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-199).

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 1978. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 64).

Thesis (MIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1990.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The objectives of this study were to show how far the statistical assumptions usually made when dealing with the theory of continuum nonlinear interactions were relevant to the case of fetch limited wind generated wave fields, and to observe some consequence of the nonlinearity as a check on the other results. The usual assumption, that the first order wave field is composed of Gaussian random wave components stationary in space and time, is shown to require that the real and imaginary parts of the complex Fourier coefficients of the observed surface elevation at a fixed point are normally distributed with zero mean, and that the real and imaginary parts of the complex coefficient for a given frequency band are independent. Coefficients from different frequency bands must also be independent. Four wave fields were observed and described in terms of their power spectra and frequency-wavenumber spectra. Although their directional spectra were found to be strongly influenced by the particular arrangement of fetch at the observing site, their power spectra agreed well with both theory and other observations, at least after correction for the observed currents. This agreement is important from the point of view of establishing the relevance of the results of this work to other field situations. Observations of the frequency domain statistics for these four wave fields indicated that the assumptions of stationarity and of normal distributions for the Fourier coefficients were correct to good accuracy. Two methods were tried for observing direct evidence of nonlinear effects in the wave field. One of these, the attempt to detect products of second order interactions in the frequency-wavenumber spectra, failed because of the poor resolution of the array of sensors. The other, the bispectrum, succeeded, with reasonable agreement being achieved between the observed bispectra and bispectra predicted from the power spectra using the results of perturbation of theory. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

The response on the continental shelf of a baroclinic ocean to driving by an alongshore coastal wind stress and by barotropic and baroclinic wind forced interior motions is studied as a function of latitude. The relative excitation of continental shelf waves and internal Kelvin waves is studied. The response of a rotating stratified ocean with a vertical boundary, forced at the surface by an alongshore coastal wind stress, shows vertically propagating subinertial motions. Several examples which illustrate the basic properties of the response are presented. Changes in amplitude and frequency with depth are predicted. Components that decay with depth from the surface and components that represent coastal internal Kelvin waves with negative vertical group velocity and upward phase propagation are forced. The effect of bottom Ekman layer friction and slope topography on free internal Kelvin waves is examined, using both a steep and weak slope model. The steep slope represents the low latitude case while the weak slope represents the mid-latitude case. There are substantial differences between the results from the two models. Free waves are frictionally damped and offshore and vertical phase shifts are induced by friction, as well as an onshore flow. Topography induces changes to the wave frequency and alongshore phase speed. The modal amplitude is altered and an onshore flow is induced. Sea level and current velocity data from the equator to 17°S on the west coast of South America show that low frequency (0.1-0.2 cpd) fluctuations propagate poleward with phase speeds similar to those predicted for first mode baroclinic Kelvin waves. The sea level and currents are coherent and approximately 1800 out of phase. The waves do not appear to be the result of local atmospheric forcing. Empirical orthogonal functions show that the alongshore and vertical structure of alongshore velocity is consistent with first mode internal Kelvin waves. / Graduation date: 1983

Thesis (M.Eng.) -- Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 103-108. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-59). Also available via World Wide Web.