Sea level and the alongshore component of wind stress data at
seven locations on the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States
were analyzed. The effective data period was from August 1, 1973 to
September 9, 1975. The seven locations were Tofino, British
Columbia; Neah Bay and Toke Point, Washington; South beach (Newport)
and Charleston, Oregon; and Crescent City and San Francisco,
California.
Sea level relative to the two year mean is higher at the northern
locations during the winter months than it is at the southern
stations. There appears to be an annual cycle in the sea level
though the amplitudes are different for the two years. The monthly
mean wind stress is northward during the winter months, and has a
larger value at the northern locations. During the spring and summer
the monthly mean wind stress is southward and has a larger value at
the southern stations.
Linear correlation analysis was performed on the sea level data
and on the alongshore component of wind stress for the entire time
period and seasonally. Auto-correlations and cross correlations were
computed for the adjusted sea levels and wind stress. This analysis
shows that the sea level and wind stress fluctuations among these
seven locations are coherent. These show that the correlation is
a function of location and that it has a seasonal variation. It also
appears that by examining plots of correlation coefficients and of
sea level slopes, that the region may be divided into two major
regimes. This separation might be interpreted as the locale where
the West Wind Drift impinges on the coast. / Graduation date: 1978
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27812 |
| Date | 26 July 1977 |
| Creators | Osmer, Stephen Robert |
| Contributors | Huyer, Adriana |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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