An overview of the 2015 Point Sal Inner shelf Experiment (PSIEX): In-situ observations of temperature and current fields
Abstract
For two months in the summer of 2015, 39 moorings and two quad pods were deployed along the inner continental shelf to the outer surf zone off Point Sal California to observe the interaction between these two distinct nearshore regions. The shoreline of this region is complex consisting of two distinct rocky points, a long sandy beach, and a pocket beach. Offshore there are rocky outcrops surrounded by sand. A total of 17 ADCPs and 355 thermistors gathered data on diverse processes such as shelf eddies, filaments and fronts, mixing and boundary processes, wind driven circulation, linear and nonlinear internal waves and tides, surface and infragravity waves, internal edge waves, and rip currents. While a strong El Nino state and other factors resulted in unusually light wind and wave conditions for the experiment, the in situ measurements show strong variability over a broad range of space-time scales. This talk will provide and overview of the experimental work and scientific objectives, and briefly describe some of the dynamical highlights from the observations for processes such as large scale circulation, eddies, tides, nonlinear internal waves, and mixing.
- Publication:
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American Geophysical Union, Ocean Sciences Meeting
- Pub Date:
- February 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUOSEC24B1100C
- Keywords:
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- 4546 Nearshore processes;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICALDE: 4558 Sediment transport;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICALDE: 4560 Surface waves and tides;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICALDE: 4568 Turbulence;
- diffusion;
- and mixing processes;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL