Fall AGU Meeting (Dec. 2002) COAST abstracts:

• Allen
  
• Bane et al.
  
• Barth et al.
  
• Carney et al.
  
• Couch et al.
  
• Cowles et al.
  
• Dale et al.
  
• Durski et al.
  
• Egbert et al.
  
• Gan et al.
  
• Hales et al.
  
• Kosro et al.
  
• Kuebel et al.
  
• Kurapov et al.
  
• Perlin et al.
  
• Pierce et al.
  
• Ruttenberg et al.
  
• Samelson
  
• Spitz et al.
  
• Wheeler
  

Abstracts should be cited as:

EOS Trans. AGU, 83 (47),
Fall Meet. Suppl.,
Abstract XXXXX-XX, 2002

OS61D-02

Atmospheric Forcing of the Oregon Shelf During COAST 2001

J M Bane, M F Meaux, S M Haines, and R M Samelson

During the COAST summer 2001 field program off central Oregon, detailed
observations of the coastal atmosphere were made using moored buoys, land
stations, satellites, ships and an aircraft.  These observations reveal the
structure and variability of the atmosphere in the study region, and they
provide insight into the processes that give rise to the atmospheric forcing of
the ocean there. We present an overview of the COAST atmosphere throughout the
summer, relating local winds and thermal structure to the synoptic conditions
over the eastern Pacific and northwestern North America. Coastal orographic
effects and air-sea heat exchanges are found to modify the prevailing
conditions locally, sometimes giving rise to enhanced or reduced near-surface
winds and cool air temperatures along the coast. Although the winds are
predominantly upwelling favorable (northerly) during summer in this region,
southerly winds were experienced 25 percent of the time during COAST. We will
describe the atmospheric thermal and wind structure during typical northerly
and southerly wind episodes, relate these to synoptic conditions and local
processes, and give brief examples of the oceanic circulations that these
differing wind regimes create.