Abstract:
The Princeton Ocean Model (POM) was used to investigate an upwelling event in Jervis Bay, New South Wales (SE Australia), with varying wind directions and strengths. The POM was adopted with a downscaling approach for the regional ocean model one-way nested to a global ocean model. The upwelling event was detected from the observed wind data and satellite sea surface temperature images. The validated model reproduced the upwelling event showing the input of bottom cold water driven by wind to the bay, its subsequent deflection to the south, and its outcropping to the surface along the west and south coasts. Nevertheless, the behavior of the bottom water that intruded into the bay varied with different wind directions and strengths. Upwelling-favorable wind directions for flushing efficiency within the bay were ranked in the following order: N (0°; northerly) > NNE (30°; northeasterly) > NW (315°; northwesterly) > NE (45°; northeasterly) > ENE (60°; northeasterly). Increasing wind strengths also enhance cold water penetration and water exchange. It was determined that wind-driven downwelling within the bay, which occurred with NNE, NE and ENE winds, played a key role in blocking the intrusion of the cold water upwelled through the bay entrance. A northerly wind stress higher than 0.3 N m-2 was required for the cold water to reach the northern innermost bay.
Bio:
Dr. Isabel Jalón-Rojas is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences at UNSW Canberra. She completed her PhD in Environmental Physics from the University of Bordeaux (France). Her Ph.D. dissertation concentrated on the evolution of the hydro-sedimentary dynamcis in the Gironde fluvio-estuarine system (SW France) in relation local and global perturbations. During her Ph.D she was a visiting researcher at the Department of Applied Mathematics of TU Delft (The Netherlands). Her research interests include estuarine and coastal hydrodynamics, sediment and plastic transport, ocean modelling and management issues.
