The response of the Red Sea to a strong wind jet near the Tokar Gap in summer
Type
ArticleAuthors
Zhai, PingBower, Amy
KAUST Grant Number
USA 00002KSA 00011
KSA 00011/02
Date
2013-01-31Online Publication Date
2013-01-31Print Publication Date
2013-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/599953
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
[1] Remote sensing and in situ observations are used to investigate the ocean response to the Tokar Wind Jet in the Red Sea. The wind jet blows down the atmospheric pressure gradient through the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese coast, at about 19°N, during the summer monsoon season. It disturbs the prevailing along-sea (southeastward) winds with strong cross-sea (northeastward) winds that can last from days to weeks and reach amplitudes of 20-25 m/s. By comparing scatterometer winds with along-track and gridded sea level anomaly observations, it is observed that an intense dipolar eddy spins up in response to the wind jet. The eddy pair has a horizontal scale of 140 km. Maximum ocean surface velocities can reach 1 m/s and eddy currents extend more than 100 m into the water column. The eddy currents appear to cover the width of the sea, providing a pathway for rapid transport of marine organisms and other drifting material from one coast to the other. Interannual variability in the strength of the dipole is closely matched with variability in the strength of the wind jet. The dipole is observed to be quasi-stationary, although there is some evidence for slow eastward propagation in an idealized numerical model. Simulation of the dipole in an idealized high-resolution numerical model suggests that this is the result of self-advection. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.Citation
Zhai P, Bower A (2013) The response of the Red Sea to a strong wind jet near the Tokar Gap in summer. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 118: 421–434. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008444.Sponsors
We would like to thank Sarantis Sofianos for providing us the observational CTD and SADCP data used in this study, J. Thomas Farrar for providing us the buoy data, and Jiayan Yang for providing us with the 1.5-layer model code. This work was supported by award USA 00002, KSA 00011 and KSA 00011/02 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1029/2012JC008444