The Santa Barbara Channel - Santa Maria Basin Study: A model for Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

The need to anticipate the potential impact of oil exploration and production activities on coastal resources, and the information needs of agencies charged with responding to coastal emergencies motivated the development of the oil-spill response system for the Santa Barbara Channel (SBC) and the Santa Maria Basin (SMB), along the California coast, between Ventura and Morro Bay. In the Santa Barbara Channel (SBC), moorings and drifter trajectories document a persistent cyclonic circulation with a typical re-circulation period between three and five days. In the spring currents near the mainland are weaker than near the Channel Islands and the overall flow is toward the southeast. Trajectories document the possibility for water parcels to leave the channel through the inter-island passes. In the late fall and winter, a poleward flow with velocities often exceeding 0.5 m/s is confined within 20 km of the mainland. Between these two seasons, the cyclonic tendency is enhanced although most of the drifters eventually migrate westward. The trajectories of drifters released at the same time from sites only 20 km apart can be remarkably different. In the Santa Maria Basin (SMB), the direction and amplitude of the flow is strongly depth dependent. Near the surface, moorings and drifters show the flow to be equatorward except during late fall and early winter when the surface flow is poleward. Beneath the surface layer the flow is poleward except in March and April, right after the spring transition. The observations provide a basis on which several data assimilating model of the circulation are based. The models reproduce all the major observed features of the circulation, including individual drifter trajectories. With little effort these models could be used to maintain an operational predictive capability with real predictive skills over periods of a few days.