Observations and modeling of a pulsating density current

E. Biton*, J. Silverman, Hezi Gildor

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate density current formation and flow in the northern Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea, using in situ observations and a high resolution, nonhydrostatic general circulation model. These density currents occur in relatively warm water ∼20°C and are probably the warmest in the world ocean. We demonstrate the intrinsic nonlinearity of density currents by comparing two high-resolution simulations forced by different heat flux. This nonlinearity, which is poorly represented in global models, is shown here to affect the properties of simulated density currents. Such a bias in simulating density currents in global models may lead to significant biases on the larger scale global ocean circulation and water mass distribution.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL14603
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume35
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Jul 2008
Externally publishedYes

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