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Modeling the seasonal circulation in Massachusetts Bay

By: , and 
Edited by: Spaulding Malcolm L.Bedford KeithBlumberg AlanCheng RalphSwanson Craig

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Abstract

An 18 month simulation of circulation was conducted in Massachusetts Bay, a roughly 35 m deep, 100??50 km embayment on the northeastern shelf of the United States. Using a variant of the Blumberg-Mellor (1987) model, it was found that a continuous 18 month run was only possible if the velocity field was Shapiro filtered to remove two grid length energy that developed along the open boundary due to mismatch in locally generated and climatologically forced water properties. The seasonal development of temperature and salinity stratification was well-represented by the model once ??-coordinate errors were reduced by subtracting domain averaged vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and density before horizontal differencing was performed. Comparison of modeled and observed subtidal currents at fixed locations revealed that the model performance varies strongly with season and distance from the open boundaries. The model performs best during unstratified conditions, and in the interior of the bay. The model performs poorest during stratified conditions and in the regions where the bay is driven predominantly by remote fluctuations from the Gulf of Maine.

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Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title Modeling the seasonal circulation in Massachusetts Bay
ISBN 0872629759
Year Published 1994
Language English
Publisher ASCE
Publisher location New York, NY, United States
Contributing office(s) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 13 p.
First page 578
Last page 590
Conference Title Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling III
Conference Location Oak Brook, IL, USA
Conference Date September 8-10,1993
Country United States
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