The separation between the surface and subsurface fronts of the Gulf Stream can change due to (a) changes in the curvature of the subsurface front as the Stream meanders, (b) wind-driven Ekman advection of the surface front, and (c) ageostrophic instabilities of the surface front. Combining observational field experiments, and theoretical and numerical modeling efforts, we showed that wind-driven Ekman advection of the Stream's surface front is not responsible for most of the observed variability in the Stream's surface-subsurface frontal separation. Our field experiments verified earlier ones when they demonstrated that part of the variability in the Stream's surface-subsurface separation is due to changes in the path of the Stream's surface front. To explain the observations an analytical expression was obtained which relates changes in separation to path curvature and shows that the strength of the curvature effect is proportional to the frontal separation at path inflection points. It was concluded that the majority in the variability in the frontal separation is due to instabilities of the surface front. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: B, page: 2817. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75893 |
| Contributors | HORTON, CHARLES WAYNE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 170 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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