COASTAL CLIMATE 255

McSaveney, M.J., Goff, J.R., Darby, D.J., Goldsmith, P., Barnett, A., Time and space scales
Elliot, S., and Nongkas, M., 2000. The 17th July 1998 Tsunami,
Papua New Guinea: evidence and initial interpretation. Marine Climatologists recognize different types of climate according to their
Geology, 170: 81–92. time and space scales. The local wind currents that redistribute sand
Murray-Wallace, C.V., and Scott, D.B. (eds.), 1999. Late Quaternary around a beach sand dune and the different temperatures on the sunny
coastal records of rapid change: applications to present and future and shaded side of a stand of beach grass would be in the realm of
conditions (IGCP Project 367). Quaternary International, 56: 1–154. microclimatology. Different climates formed by the different surfaces
Ortlieb, L., Barrientos, S., Guzman, N., 1996. Coseismic Coastal Uplift and local climatic interactions as one might traverse the sand of a bar-
and Coralline Algae record in Northern Chile; the 1995 Antofagasta rier island, the water of its related lagoon, the inland coastal marshes,
Earth quake case: Quaternary Science Reviews, 15, nos. 8–9, and the forest or agricultural land of the immediate hinterland would
pp. 949–960. constitute a study of topoclimatology. A sea breeze might penetrate
Pirazzoli, P.A., 1991. World Atlas of Sea-level Changes. Amsterdam: inland some 75 km from the shore on a given day and would represent
Elsevier Oceanographic series 58. a phenomenon studied in mesoclimatology. Climatic variable value gra-
Scott, D.B. (ed.), 1999. Records of Rapid Change in the Late dients parallel to the coastline are usually much steeper than those that
Quaternary (IGCP 367). Quaternary International, 60: 1–126. are perpendicular to the coastline. The geography of the US Pacific
Scott, D.B., and Medioli, F.S., 1986. Foraminifera as sea-level indica- Northwest (PNW), for example, gives rise to well-marked gradients in
tors. In Plassche O. van de (ed.), Sea-level Research: A Manual for values of climatic variables both in the latitudinal (north–south) direc-
the Collection and Evaluation of Data. Norwich, U.K., Geo Books, tion but also in the longitudinal (west–east) direction. This is not
pp. 435–456. uncommon for coastlines that have some north–south alignment. The
Scott, D.B., and Ortlieb, L. (eds.), 1996. Records of rapid events in location of a coast in relation to global latitude, continental geography,
Late Quaternary shorelines. Quaternary Science Reviews, 15(8,9): hemispheric-scale winds and storm tracks in the atmosphere, and sur-
761–960. face water currents in the ocean, and the state of teleconnective indices
Scott, D.B., Shennan, I.A., and Combellick, R.A., 1998. Evidence for such as the Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation, would
pre-cursor events prior to the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake from help explain its macroscale climatology. The passage from micro to
buried forest deposits in Girdwood, Alaska: abstract in Annual macroscale defines a scale hierarchy. Most scale hierarchies in Earth
Geological Society of America Meeting, Toronto, Canada, pp. A-226. Sciences, including coastal climates, have at least three characteristics.
Shennan, I.A., and Gehrels, R. (eds.), 1996. An introduction to IGCP First, events on the larger scales tend to set the context for those on the
Project 367 Late Quaternary coastal records of rapid change: scale below. Second, explanation of events on one scale is best given by
Application to present and future conditions. Journal of Coastal reference to events on the scale immediately above and below the scale
Research, 12(4): 795–797. and phenomenon in question. Third, at least at the lower end of the
Shennan, I.A., Long, A.J., Rutherford, M.M., Innes, J.B., Green, F.M., hierarchy, there tends to be a direct relationship between time and space
and Walker, K.J., 1998. Tidal marsh stratigraphy, sea-level change scales. For example, ephemeral events, like an eddy in the wind, happen
and large earthquakes II. submergence events during the last 3500 on small time and space scales while some other events, like a hurricane,
years at Netarts Bay, Oregon, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews, 17: sometimes take many days to run their course and have the potential to
365–393. affect a relatively large geographic area.
Shennan, I.A., Scott, D.B., Rutherford, M.R., and Zong, Y., 1999.
Microfossil analysis of sediments representing the 1964 earthquake,
exposed at Girdwood Flats, Alaska, USA. Quaternary International, Microscale coastal climates
60: 55–74. Wind is the principal climatic variable at the microscale in coastal cli-
Stathis, C., Stiros, S., and Scott, D.B. (eds.), 2000. Records of mates and its interaction with topographic and biologic factors has long
Rapid coastal change in Late Quaternary coastal sediments and land- been studied. Three factors are important at this scale. First, wind at
forms. Marine Geology (special issue), 170: 249 p., thematic issue. coastlines tends to come from a predominant direction often from off-
shore. This has the effects of distributing sand and sand dunes in par-
ticular ways, and of sometimes shaping the vegetation canopies. The
Cross-references actual type of sand dune formed has been suggested to be a function
Barrier Islands of the supply of sand, the density of vegetative cover, and the average
Changing Sea Levels wind speed (Strahler and Strahler, 1992, p. 406). Second, the capacity
Coastal Changes, Gradual of wind to carry sand is an exponential function of its velocity. Thus
Coastal Lakes and Lagoons when wind speeds are decreased, by, for example, the presence of
Deltas vegetation or a fence on a beach, then sand and other particles being
Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming transported are rapidly deposited. Vegetation and wind thus have a syn-
Meteorological Effects on Coasts ergistic interaction in stabilizing sand movement. Third, typically wind
Sediment transport (see Cross-Shore Sediment Transport and velocity increases logarithmically with height. This fact needs to be
Longshore Sediment Transport) taken into account when designing high-rise buildings in coastal envi-
Storm Surge ronments. Pilkey et al. (1998, p. 254) have noted that at any given height
Tide Gauges pressure from the wind is greater near the shore than it is inland.
Tsunami
Topoclimatology
The coast, interpreted broadly, may be formed of many different sur-
faces including water, sand, soil, rock, and a variety of vegetated and
COASTAL CLIMATE urban surfaces. Each one of these surfaces has a different energy and
moisture balance, and depending on its roughness, a different degree of
Three factors are important in an explanation of coastal climate. The momentum transfer with the atmosphere. These differences might not
first is the juxtaposition of two surfaces, land (or in some cases, ice) and be too important on the topoclimate scale on a coastline with a steep
water, of very different properties. The second is the geographic location cliff topped with relatively homogeneous vegetation because the
of the coast with respect to continental masses and global-scale climatic differences would be overwhelmed by both smaller- and larger-
atmospheric and oceanic currents of air and water, respectively. The scale processes. However, the differences are important on a coastline
third is the topography of the coast and its hinterland. We must also typified by a barrier island, lagoon, and hinterland series on days when
take into account temporal and spatial scale issues so as to order the the large-scale wind is not too strong. The differences are important
different aspects and to maximize our understanding of coastal cli- because they will form a set of distinctly different microclimates that
mates. Scale will be used as an organizing framework in the following will relate, at least, to the flora and fauna of the area.
account. Salt transport by wind is also important at this scale. The concentra-
Several useful data and information sources exist for an entrance into tion of salt particles near the surface in coastal climates is directly
the topic of Coastal Climatology. One is an encyclopedia entry under related to the wind speed (Bigg, 1996). A high number of salt particles
the same topic name by Walker et al. (1987) in The Encyclopedia of makes the coastal air very hazy. The salt particles attract water vapor
Climatology. A second is the Master Environmental Library that is an and play an important role in raindrop formation. Damaging salt spray
online data source for environmental data for coastal modeling applica- can sometimes have a pruning effect on coastal vegetation. How far
tions (Allard and Siquig, 1998). inland or how high up a cliff this effect can occur is determined by wind
256 COASTAL CLIMATE

flow and its interaction with topography on the scale in question. Soils lake breeze circulation. Typically, sea breeze activity is observed on the
near coasts are typically high in salts transported by wind from the south coast of England on 75 days during the year (Burton, 2000).
ocean. The land–sea breeze circulation has many practical implications. Oke
(1987) quotes one study in which tobacco leaves near the coastline of
Lake Erie were damaged by ozone that had been formed over the lake
Mesoclimatology—the land–sea breeze circulation from lakeshore city pollutants and then transported back over the shore
It is the different properties of the water and land surface that ulti- and tobacco crop by the lake breeze. In another study, quoted by
mately lead to the land–sea breeze phenomenon—one of the most stud- the same source, blister rust disease impacted pine trees 15–20 km from
ied features of all aspects of coastal climates. The circulation is the Lake Superior lakeshore. This impact was thought to be due to
developed at mid and low latitude coasts on days when larger-scale wind spores from bushes located between the diseased trees and the lake and
systems are not predominant. Anticyclonic weather in summer time transported out over the lake at night, back aloft by the counter airflow
provides an ideal context. The circulation is found both on maritime of the land breeze, and then descending upon the pine trees. Michael
and freshwater coasts. At the surface of the Earth, the land–sea breeze et al. (1998) showed that during spring and summer, sea breeze
circulation takes the form of winds coming from water surface during circulations can strongly influence airport operations, air-quality,
the day and from the land during the night. The surface of a water body energy utilization, marine activities, and infrastructure in the New York
usually manifests only a small daily range of temperature. Oke (1987) city region. Here, the investigators found the geographic configuration
has outlined the four reasons for this. Solar radiation can easily pene- of region presents a special challenge to atmospheric prediction and
trate a water surface and thus heats a deep layer and not just the surface analysis. The New Jersey and Long Island coasts are approximately at
itself. Convection currents and mass transport in the water permits any right angles to each other; additionally Long Island Sound separates
heat gain or loss to be spread throughout a large volume of water. Long Island from the mainland of Connecticut. The various bodies of
Evaporation from the water surface cools the water surface and helps water in the region (Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, New York
promote vertical mixing within the water itself. Water has a high ther- Harbor, Jamaica Bay, etc.) have different surface temperatures. In
mal capacity compared with soil and thus takes about three times the addition the urbanization of the New York area can modify atmos-
amount of heat to raise its temperature by 1⬚C as for the same volume pheric flows.
of soil. Thus there is a reduced flow of sensible heat from the water sur- Apart from land–sea breeze phenomena mesoscale wind fields in
face to the air compared with that over the land during the day. This general are very important in influencing the coastal and coastal ocean
leads to a reduced warming rate of the air over the water compared with processes. Considerable attention is being given, for example, to the
that over the land surface. As described by Oke (1987), greater sensible effect of wind on driving and directing freshwater plumes from rivers
heat flow over the land in the morning heats the air columns more rap- entering the ocean. This has many implications for cross continental
idly and to greater heights than over the water. The atmospheric pres- shelf transport (Lohrenz, 1998).
sure well above the surface of the land is higher than at the same level
over the water. The resulting horizontal pressure gradient results in
airflow at upper levels toward and out over the water surface. This flow Macroscale climatology
ultimately produces a higher atmospheric pressure at the surface over The location of the coast in the world determines in large part its over-
the water that, in turn, forms a cross-coastline flow of air from the water all climate. A first order classification of coasts on this scale would
to the land. This surface level flow is known as the sea or lake breeze. include tropical windward coasts, tropical leeward coasts, mid- and
The land breeze starts in the evening because of the greater contraction high-latitude windward coasts, mid- and high-latitude leeward coasts,
and cooling of the air columns over the land compared with the sea. and ice-influenced coasts. Each of these categories would be modified
Oke reports that the daytime sea breeze circulation has greater verti- according to whether or not the hinterland of the coast contained
cal and horizontal extents and larger wind speeds than the land breeze mountains. Examples of climate data from such categories are given in
because it is driven by solar forcing. Typically, the sea breeze might have Table C8. Walker et al. (1987) quote other ways of classifying coastal
a velocity of 2–5 m/s, a depth of 1–2 km, and extend inland as far as climates.
30 km. The land breeze characteristically has a velocity of 1–2 m/s and Under the classification suggested here the extremes for high precipi-
a smaller extent than the see breeze. If the sea breeze is forming in a tation are seen in the tropical and mid-latitude windward coasts with
location where there is cold upwelling water, then the air formed over mountains such as, respectively, on the island of Maui and other islands
this water may be cool enough to continue the sea breeze circulation all in Hawaii, and the PNW of the United States. In the case of the north
through the night and not have a land breeze develop at all. coast of Maui, Hawaii, onshore moist tropical air is lifted up and cooled
The sea breeze brings with it air that is cooler and more humid than against the mountains giving rise to some of the world’s highest precip-
the air found over the land. This cool air plows underneath the warmer itation values. Similar orographic effects occur at the coast of the PNW
air over the land and forms a localized cold front known as a sea breeze but here it is moist, mid-latitude Pacific air that is uplifted often during
front. The sea breeze front gradually advances inland during the day mid-latitude storms, which provides intense precipitation. The extreme
and is associated with the development of sea breeze cumulus clouds. for low precipitation is found on tropical coasts on the western sides of
These clouds are often taken by the counter (seawards) flow above the continents, as for example, on the coast of Peru. Air flows down the
surface and dissipate because they are decoupled from their moisture mountain sides of the Andes mountains in Peru and northern Chile and
source. Purdom (1976) showed that some parts of the front displayed thus is warm and dry when it reaches the coast. More importantly this
higher concentrations of convection than in others. He found that the coastline, and others in this category, has a cool ocean current offshore.
shape of the coastline in some places created stronger upward vertical Upwelling of cold water gives rise to fog that is often the only source of
velocities. Kingsmill (1995) documented for summer months the colli- precipitation in this climate. Ice-ocean boundaries are not considered to
sion of a sea breeze front traveling from the east side of the Florida be coastlines by some (Walker et al., 1987) but since they form a dis-
peninsular with a gust front traveling from the west. Interestingly, he tinctive interface on the Earth’s surface they will be briefly mentioned
found that convective activity was most prominent just prior to the col- here. Thus the “coasts” with the lowest temperatures are those formed
lision of the two fronts rather than at the time when the two collided. by the meeting of ice masses and the sea such as the Greenland and
Oke (1987) has suggested that if the sea breeze travels far enough inland Antarctic ice cap coasts. Such coasts are often marked by strong, kata-
then the influence of the Coriolis force will affect its direction and the batic winds blowing from the ice cap. Katabatic winds are winds formed
breeze will end up traveling parallel to the coast. A fairly deep penetra- from cold, relatively dense air flowing down a topographic feature. The
tion of the sea breeze front inland was observed in April 1999 at climate of the other categories of coasts is intermediate between the
Wokingham, which is 75 km inland from the southern coast of extremes described here.
England. The passage of the front was accompanied by an increase of One of the most important features of coastal macroclimate is the
the dew point temperature of 4⬚C and a change of wind direction from storm. Both tropical storms (hurricanes) and mid-latitude storms or
70⬚ to 210⬚ (Burton, 2000). cyclones heavily impact the geologic, biologic, and human dimensions
The climatology of sea (lake) and land breezes is highly variable of a coast. Sometimes it is the presence of the coast itself that helps
depending on the particular location being considered. A 15-year study cause or enhance the storms. Cyclogenesis is enhanced, for example, at
of Lake Michigan found that lake breezes tend to occur more frequently the east coast of the United States as upper-level disturbances cross the
along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan than along the western shore Appalachian mountains and then cross the strong baroclinic zone of
(Laird and Kristovich, 1998). In addition, there was a gradual increase the atmosphere near the coast. At the coast, the cyclones flow parallel to
in the number of lake breeze events from May through August, then a the landmass in winter and a strong cooling of air on the landward side
slight decrease into September. The distribution of the frequency of leads to the formation of macroscale fronts (Rotunno, 1994).
land breezes is similar to that of the lake breezes from May through Considerable time is spent researching the frequency and magnitude
September, however, they occur about 10% less often than the daytime of coastal storms. Waves generated by mid-latitude storms, for example,
 COASTAL CLIMATE 257

Table C8 Climate data for selected coastal areas

Mean annual Mean monthly Annual

Windward
Mountains Hana, 20 48 N 156 13 W 2 23.4 21.7–24.9 2060
Hawaii
No Mountains Belem, 1 23 S 48 29 W 14 25.9 25.4–26.5 2770
Brazil
Leeward
Mountains Arica, 18 28 S 70 22 W 29 18.5 15.4–22.2 1
Chile
No Mountains Bonthe, 7 32 N 12 30 W 8 26.8 25.1–28.2 3718
Sierra Leone
Mid-latitude
Windward
Mountains Hokitika, 42 43 S 170 57 E 5 11 6.4–15.1 2721
New Zealand
No Mountains Bordeaux, 44 51 N 00 42 W 48 12.3 5.2–19.6 900
France
Leeward
Mountains Tokyo, 35 41 N 139 46 E 36 14.7 3.7–26.4 1563
Japan
No Mountains Boston, 42 22 N 71 01 W 9 10.8 ⫺0.9–23.2 1086
USA
High-latitude
Windward
Mountains Tromso, 69 39 N 18 57 E 114 3.3 ⫺2.7–12 1119
Norway
No Mountains Spitsbergen, 78 04 N 13 38 E 9 ⫺3.8 ⫺11.9 to 5.0 354
Norway
Leeward
Mountains Cape Tobinb 70 24 N 21 58 W 42 ⫺7.4 ⫺16.3–2.7 not available
Greenland
No Mountains Resolute, 74 43 N 94 59 W 64 ⫺16.2 ⫺31.8 to 4.6 131
Canada
Ice-influenced Nord, 81 36 N 16 40 W 35 ⫺16.5 ⫺31.0–3.9 not available
Greenland

Source: Data are from Liljequist (1970) except for Hana data which are from the Western Region Climate Center.
a
asl, above sea level.
b
Note that Cape Tobin also represents an ice-influenced coast.

are responsible for much of the coastal erosion that occurs along the the Atlantic and typhoons in Southeast Asia. For a tropical cyclone to
Atlantic coast of the United States. Dolan et al. (1988) found that at this be called a hurricane there must be a sustained wind of 33.5 m/s (75
location, the five-month period December through April had 63% of all mph) or more. Such systems can have diameters exceeding 300 km. Very
the storms for the area. They also found a systematic increase between large typhoons in the western North Pacific can have diameters up to
1942 and 1984 in the number of storms occurring in May and October 3,000 km and are sometimes called super-typhoons. Hurricanes are
resulted in the lengthening of the storm season and a more abrupt tran- placed into five categories in the United States. Category 1 has wind
sition between the winter and summer storm regime. The authors were speeds of 119–153 kph; category 2, 154–177 kph; category 3, 178–209
able to construct a map of the mean cyclone track and frequency of all kph; category 4, 210–249 kph; and category 5, has wind speeds in excess
the mid-latitude storms in their data set that produced significant waves of 249 kph. In the following discussion, I will use the term hurricane as
at Cape Hatteras. The storm track runs Southwest to Northeast follow- being synonymous to tropical cyclone.
ing the coast of the Carolinas and continuing out to sea at Cape Hurricanes are features of coastal climate mainly during the late
Hatteras. Locally the storms following this track are called Nor’easters summer and autumn seasons since they depend upon high Sea Surface
and they often do considerable damage to the coast. The secular varia- Temperatures (SSTs) as one factor in their initial formation. Hurricanes
tion of such storms is very important. Hayden (1981) discovered that in impact the tropical, subtropical, and mid-latitude coastlines that are
the early years of the 20th century there was a trend toward increased mainly on the east coasts of continents or coasts that face south in the
cyclone frequency over marine, as opposed to continental, areas of the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa. Hurricanes usually weaken after
Atlantic US coast. He also found decadal changes in coastal cyclogene- passing the coastline and moving inland because they depend upon the
sis with a maximum in the record up to 1978 occurring in the 1950s. warm moist ocean surface for their energy. Besides high winds the
It is possible that decadal changes in the frequency of storms whose storms are noteworthy for bringing large quantities of rain to the coast.
predominant wind directions is different can lead to marked geographic Sometimes tornadoes are spawned as well. Hurricanes represent an
effects. At Hog Island, Virginia there is a clear dynamic coastline interesting interaction between meso- and macro-climatology since
change pattern: erosion occurs on the north when accretion occurs on their formation and track once formed is often a function of the
the south, or vice versa. This kind of cyclic process of coastline changes macroscale features such as upper atmosphere wind fields. Much
may repeat every 190 years on Hog Island. Currently, the southern part coastal damage is done by the interaction of the hurricane with the
of Hog Island just ended the erosion processes, while the northern part ocean. The resulting formation of storm surges brings extra high flows
just ended the accretion processes. It is hypothesized that the changing of ocean water over the coastline. The storm surge of a category 5
geography of the island on this timescale may be related to the fre- hurricane could be 5.5 m (18 ft) above normal sea level.
quency of storms that either have winds with a predominant northeast- As with mid-latitude cyclones, interdecadal variability in frequency is
erly or southeasterly component. well marked in hurricanes. Hurricane frequency in the Atlantic
Damage to coasts is also done by Tropical Cyclones that go by dif- decreased from the 1890s to the 1920s and 1930s, increased during the
ferent names in different parts of the world—hurricanes, for example, in 1940s to 1970s, and then decreased in the last part of the 20th century
258 COASTAL CLIMATE

(Riehl, 1987). The latter decrease coincided with the development of Kahya and Dracup (1993) are among several investigators to demon-
much coastal property in the Southeastern coast of the United States. strate that high precipitation and high streamflow values in the coastal
Ice-influenced coastlines have their own interesting climatological PNW are often associated with La Niña years. Superimposed on
features besides the katabatic winds already mentioned. An interaction ENSO-scale climatic variability is the variability on the interannual and
between macro and mesoscale events gives rise to strips of open coastal shorter timescales such as the passage of individual mid-latitude
water surrounded by ice-covered ocean. The open water areas are called cyclones and anticyclones.
polynyas and they typically open and close over the time period of a few
days. They are partly formed by coastal winds pushing the ice offshore
and are associated with a complex set of water and atmosphere density Future research
and flow interactions (Chapman, 1999). The polynyas, sometimes called
There is an unlimited amount of work to do on coastal climates.
leads, are large sources of sensible heat to the atmosphere in winter with
Working through the scales we may suggest the following areas of
heat fluxes locally exceeding 500 W/m2. In summer, the comparatively
important research. First, it would be interesting to document the dif-
low albedo of the open water compared with that of nearby ice allows
ferences in the surface energy budget values across the different surfaces
the absorption of solar radiation that warms the water. The fractional
of the subcomponents of the shoreline—barrier island, marsh, lagoon,
lead coverage in the Arctic Ocean as a whole is 1% in winter and greater
etc. Second, it is important to find out what are the interactions between
than 20% in late summer (Curry and Webster, 1999).
the mesoscale and macroscale events with respect to coastal climates.
There are also phenomena of dynamic climatology existing where
How, for example, do sea breeze fronts affect other weather systems
coastlines are backed by mountain areas. Rotunno (1994) describes how
occurring inland? Much more has to be found out about the effect of
Kelvin waves may propagate along the basin-wall-like sides of an ocean
varying SSTs on weather systems passing over them. This is particularly
basin such as at the Pacific coast of North America. Here also strong
the case where SSTs show a large range of different values over a short
alongshore jet streams have been documented as a result of the moun-
distance. The Gulf Stream ocean current and areas of coastal upwelling
tains. Phenomena that appear similar to flow separation in classical
water are cases in point. There are many local dynamic features that
fluid dynamics have been found to occur in the lee of capes and other
need investigation such as the trapping of atmospheric waves under
coastline salients.
marine temperature inversions and low-level coastal atmospheric jet
streams. Interdecadal variation in the climatic variables of coastal cli-
mate must be established and, if possible, explained. This is important
Temporal climate variability in coastal climates because of the huge amount of coastal development that has happened
All coastal climates are subject to climate variability on a variety of and will continue to occur worldwide. Finally, the affect of potential
timescales. The presence of the ocean water has a moderating effect on global climate change on coastal climates over the next 100 years must
the climate of the nearby land at all the timescales. Climate variability at be studied. This topic has not received too much attention so far
coastlines is therefore usually less than that in interior continental land- because the global climate models tend to operate at a coarser spatial
masses but can still be significant especially at the longer timescales. We scale than one that allows a coast to be specifically considered.
may examine an example from the PNW of the United States to demon-
strate the kinds of climatic variability that can occur at, or near, a coast David Greenland
over a variety of timescales.
Major changes in the climate of the PNW from glacial to interglacial
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for salmon production. It has been shown that the PDO manifests itself breeze front, a gust front, and their collision. Monthly weather
in coastal climate by giving rise to four distinct climatic periods. The Review, 123: 2913–2933.
periods are 1896–1915, wet and cool, 1915–46, dry and warm; 1947–75, Laird, N.F., and Kristovich, D.A.R., 1998. Climatology of lake and
wet and cool; and 1976–94, dry and warm. The dominant source of land breezes for the coastal region of Lake Michigan. In Second
variation on the quasi-quintennial scale is related to the El Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and
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Index (SOI) values (El Niños) are correlated with reduced precipitation Liljequist, G.H., 1970. Klimatologi. Stockholm: Generalstabens
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 COASTAL CURRENTS 259

Freshwater Inflows. University of Maryland Center for Environ- coast, and cross-shore, or perpendicular to the coast. Away from the
mental Science Technical Report TS-237-00, pp. 122–127. influence of inlets or river mouths, cross-shore flows are typically
Mantua, N.J., Hare, S.R., Zhang, Y., Wallace, J.M., and Francis, R.C., weaker than alongshore flows, yet the larger gradients in cross-
1996. A Pacific interdecadal oscillation with impacts on salmon shore properties make the cross-shore flows better at redistributing
production. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 78: those tracers. In addition, if a current is periodic, such as a tidal current,
1069–1079. even though it may be quite strong, it may not result in significant net
Michael, P., Miller, M., and Tongue, J.S., 1998. Sea breeze regimes in the transport. A non-periodic event-driven current such as from a storm
New York City region—Modeling and Radar observations. Second may result in a significant net transport. Some currents that are persist-
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Oke, T.R., 1987. Boundary Layer Climates, 2nd edn. New York: Current. In general, currents are classified by the processes that form
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Pilkey, O.H., Neal, W.J., Riggs, S.R., Webb, C.A., Bush, D.M., Pilkey, near the coast outside of the surf zone include (1) wave-driven currents,
D.F., Bullock, J., and Cowan, B.A., 1998. The North Carolina Shore (2) tidal currents, (3) wind-driven currents, and (4) buoyant plumes.
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Redmond, K., and R. Koch., 1991. ENSO v surface climate variability
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2381–2399. Periodic water particle movements are associated with the passage of
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The Encyclopedia of Climatology. New York: Van Nostrand to waves have a relatively short period, up to about 20 s. The horizontal
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Wind-driven transport processes on the U.S. West Coast. Woods Hole ear wave theory, the water motion under waves in deep water is circular,
Oceanographic Institute Technical Report WHOI-94-20, pp. 87–90. with horizontal motions being comparable to vertical motions. The
Strahler, A.H., and Strahler, A.N., 1992. Modern Physical Geography. diameter of the circular motion decreases exponentially with water
4th ed., New York: Wiley. depth, so that in deep water, the influence of the surface wave can no
Trenberth, K.E., 1993. Northern hemisphere climate change: physical longer be felt. In intermediate water depths the motions are elliptical,
processes and observed changes. In Mooney, H.A., Fuentes, E.R., becoming smaller and flatter as the bottom is approached, and in shal-
and Kronberg, B. (eds.), Earth System Response to Global Change: low water the water motions are back and forth. In deep water, where
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Press, pp. 35–59. to the passage of a wave. In shallow water, however, linear wave theory
Trenberth, K.E., 1995. Atmospheric circulation climate changes. breaks down. According to nonlinear Stokes theory, the velocity mag-
Climatic Change, 31: 427–453. nitude is increased and the duration shortened under the crest of the
U.S.GLOBEC, 1994. Eastern Boundary Current Program: A science wave, and the velocity magnitude is decreased and the duration length-
plan for the California Current. U.S. Global Ecosystems Dynamics. ened under the trough. The result of this asymmetry in orbital motion
Report Number 11, 134 pp. is a non-periodic current, or mass transport in the direction of wave
Walker, H.J., Hsu, S.A., and Muller, R.A., 1987. Coastal Climate. In propagation, which is called Stokes drift. This mean current can be
Oliver, J.E., and Fairbridge, R.W. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of large for large amplitude and short period waves, but is a small fraction
Climatology. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 356–362. of the instantaneous wave speed, only a few centimeters per second for
Ware, D.M., and R.E. Thompson, 1991. Link between long-term vari- long period swell.
ability in upwelling and fish production in the Northeast Pacific
Ocean. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 49:
2296–2306. Tidal currents
Warona, M.A., and Whitlock, C., 1995. Late Quaternary vegetation Tides and tidal currents in the ocean basins are produced by the inter-
and climate history near Little Lake, central Coast Range, Oregon. action of a rotating earth with the gravitational forces of the moon and
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107(7): 867–876. the sun (see tides) (Mofjeld, 1976; Bowden, 1983). These oceanic tides
impinge on the continental shelf and produce sea-level oscillations and
currents in the coastal zone at tidal frequencies. The dominant fluctua-
Cross-references tions are either semi-diurnal (twice a day), diurnal (once a day), or a
Climate Patterns in the Coastal Zone combination of the two. For example, on the East Coast of the United
Coastal Temperature Trends States the tides are semi-diurnal, whereas on the Gulf Coast they are
Desert Coasts diurnal. The difference is due to the interaction between the forcing and
El Niño–Southern Oscillation the natural frequencies of the tidal basin. Most coastal environments
Geographical Coastal Zonality also have longer variations in the tides and tidal currents with periods of
Ice-Bordered Coasts about two weeks. These fortnightly variations result in stronger spring
Meteorological Effects on Coasts tides and weaker neap tides. Tidal heights (up to a few meters) and tidal
Sea Breeze Effects currents (up to several tens of centimeters per second) are periodic, thus
Storm Surge they result in little net transport, despite excursions of several kilome-
ters per tide. The horizontal component of tidal currents on the conti-
nental shelf tends to change direction and amplitude during each tidal
cycle. An arrow denoting the current’s speed and direction would trace
an ellipse with each tidal period. If the direction of the current is
COASTAL CURRENTS restricted by a boundary, as near a coast, then the ellipse will become
more elongated, with the long axis aligned parallel to the coast. The
Introduction speed of a tidal current may increase when the current goes around a
headland, passes through a restriction, or passes from deeper to shal-
Coastal currents are coherent water masses in motion that are found in
lower water.
the region between the coastline and the edge of the continental shelf.
Coastal currents are important because the coastal zone is the place
where most nutrients, pollutants, and sediments are introduced into the
ocean, and where most larvae are generated and dispersed. Coastal cur- Wind-driven currents
rents are responsible for the transport and dispersal of these biological, The drag of the wind on the sea surface results in the formation of
chemical, and geological tracers in the water. For example, predictions waves and in the generation of a surface current. The wind-generated
of the advection and diffusion of spilled oil is dependent upon knowl- current is strongest at the surface and decreases with depth. The magni-
edge of the currents near the coast. Coastal currents often are consid- tude of the surface current depends on the wind speed and on the
ered as being made up of two components, alongshore, or parallel to the roughness of the sea surface due to waves, which effects the transfer of