Introduction to Physical Oceanography
Homework Set 5
Due 8 October 2008
Late homework will cost 15 points per week or
part of a week it is late.
- Ekman Pumping. Go
to the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Live Access
to the National
Virtual Ocean Data System. Click Select
dataset: By Dataset Name. Click on the COADS
Monthly Climatology. In the new window, select wind
vectors and click Next > .
In the new window, verify you are requesting a global plot of
mid-January vector winds (the default), then select
"North Atlantic" from the pull-down menu for Region.
Click Next > . This will
cause the NOAA server to open a pop-up window and download the
map, so be sure your browser is configured to allow pop-up windows.
- Print the map.
- On the map, carefully
sketch the Ekman transports driven by the winds in the
in the North Atlantic do you expect to find a dome of
warm water produced by Ekman pumping which
produces down welling in the center of the ocean dome?
are planning a spring-break vacation to the beach. You decide
to go to the southern hemisphere for a change in pace.
You also decide to go to a beach near 25°S because
you know that the descending air of the Hadley circulation
in the atmosphere leads to clear sunny skies at this
- Look at a map
of mean sea surface temperature Click on Filled
Contour and Global
50 km with Ice (or a Navy
map-use climatology for 21 March) of the
ocean at 30°S at the east and west coasts of
the three southern-hemisphere continents. What are
- What is the temperature difference between the east
and west coast of each continent at this latitude?
- Describe at least two processes that might cause the
difference in temperature? Hint: You may wish to use
information in Fig. 4.2 to argue your case.
- Do you want to vacation at an East or West
- Influence of the Ocean
on Weather. Why does the east
coast of the North America from 20°N to 35°N have much
different weather than the west coast?
- Please list at least three processes that may contribute to
- Currents in Gulf of Mexico. Both the Mercator Project
in France and the US Navy calculate surface geostrophic currents
in the Gulf of Mexico by assimilating satellite altimeter data
into numerical models of ocean circulation. Let's compare their
- Navy Model.
- Go to the Naval
Research Laboratory Global Ocean Analysis and Modeling web
page. Click on Atlantic Ocean. This brings up a new web page.
- Click on Gulf of Mexico.
- On new web page, click on Speed/currents
Nowcast snapshot archive.
- On new web page, Click on Month date to get a
map of currents.
- Print the map of Unclassified: 1/32° Global
NLOM map of current vectors in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Mercator Model.
- Go to the Mercator
Ocean web bulletins web
page. Click on 1/15° North Atlantic and Mediterranean
Expert Bulletin image. This brings up a new web page.
- Select bulletin date: same date as 4.a.iv above.
- On new page, click on Zonal maps.
- On new page, which shows map choices in the North Atlantic,
click on F to bring up Gulf of Mexico map page.
- Click on Surface current image.
- Print pam: Initialized velocity: U on date near 3m.
- Compare the maps in the Gulf of Mexico in detail. How do
they agreee, how do they differ?
You are given a record of currents measured by a current meter
at a depth of 10 meters in the central Gulf of Mexico from January
- What types of currents do you expect to find
in the record? There are probably four types. Ocean engineers
may want to add a fifth type.
- How can you tell one type from another? We have
not discussed all different types of currents, so you may not
know how to differentiate some types.
27 August, 2008