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Deepwater Currents: Cortis Cooper Chevron

This document summarizes different types of ocean currents, including their characteristics, modeling capabilities, and importance. It discusses a wide range of currents such as boundary currents like the Gulf Stream, eddies, storm-driven currents, internal waves, turbidity currents, and river currents. These currents vary significantly in time scale from minutes to years and length scale from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers. Certain currents like loops and eddies can dominate designs in some areas, while others like subsurface jets are still not fully understood. Modeling capabilities also vary considerably between current types.

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Vasil Yordanov
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66 views20 pages

Deepwater Currents: Cortis Cooper Chevron

This document summarizes different types of ocean currents, including their characteristics, modeling capabilities, and importance. It discusses a wide range of currents such as boundary currents like the Gulf Stream, eddies, storm-driven currents, internal waves, turbidity currents, and river currents. These currents vary significantly in time scale from minutes to years and length scale from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers. Certain currents like loops and eddies can dominate designs in some areas, while others like subsurface jets are still not fully understood. Modeling capabilities also vary considerably between current types.

Uploaded by

Vasil Yordanov
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Deepwater Currents

Cortis Cooper Chevron

Internal wave packets off Hainan Island

Preview

Identify types of currents Provide detail


physics max. speed time variability spatial coherence sites where found capability to model

Loop Current

Warm Eddy

Infrared image of the Loop Current in the GOM

Types of Currents
5 Peak Velocity (kt)
Turbidity Currents

4 3 2 1
0 0.01
Solitons

River Currents

Internal waves
Tides Tides

Shelf Storm Waves Currents

Boundary Currents & Associated Eddies

0.10

1.00 Period (day)

10.00

100.00

Storm-Driven Currents

Stratification important Modeling is easy Reach 200 cm/s Important in cyclone regions

Inertial Currents

Generated by impulsive force Propagate down/up ~50 cm/s May govern design in rare cases Modeling possible

Inertial current reflected from the bottom, Gulf of Mexico

Boundary Currents

Strong & persistent Strong vertical coherence Meanders & eddies Important at ..
GOM Flemish Pass W. of Shetland Nigeria

Scotian Shelf

Warm Ring

Cold Ring

Gulf Stream

Infrared image of the NW Atlantic

Boundary Current Modeling


Presently developing in GOM & W. of Shetland Very expensive! Still unproven Animation
based on model not data shows current vectors

Eddies

Prolific! Many different sizes Cold & Hot


100-yr Loop Eddy Profile
0 200

Depth (m)

400 600 800 1000 0 50 100 150 200 250 Speed (cm/s)

Eddies in the Caspian

Cold Core Eddies

Topographic Waves

Moderately strong & last for days Modeling possible Important ..


GOM outer slope Australia W. Africa

Topographic waves in GOM

Internal Waves & Solitons


Forced by tides, winds Phase spd ~100 cm/s 5 km , 30 m high ~200 cm/s Modeling ?? Important.
Australia W. Africa ? S. China Sea

Warmer Water

Wave Breaking

Internal Waves

Rankin pipeline!

Colder Water

Internal Wave Examples

Internal waves in the Red Sea

Solitons through Gibraltar

Turbidity Currents

Mud avalanches 25 m/s currents! Few measurements Important


Cabinda Scotian Shelf Manteo
Accreting Sediment

Fluid-mud avalanche

Instability triggers sudden slide

Sediment accumulates over months/years

Current Gustiness

Gust Factor (24 hr=1)

Wind gustiness well recognized Gusts caused by small-scale eddies For Loop ~5 cm/s at 2 min period

Loop Current Gustiness


1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8 0.1

1.0 10.0 Time (hrs)

100.0

River Currents

Freshwater forms high-speed lens Lens can persist for 10s of km Speeds of 200 cm/s but shallow Important
Congo Nile Orinoco

2S

8E

10E

12E

2S Max Spd (kt) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 4S 3.5

4S

+Kuito 6S 6S Congo River

8S

8E

10E

12E

8S

Contours max surface currents off Congo River

Subsurface Jets

Characteristics
last for few days peaks ~200 cm/s

Important for
riser design (VIV)

Its a mystery! Jet measurements off Cabinda

Summary

Wide range of time scales (mins-yrs) Wide range of length scales Can dominate some designs May be infrequent & invisible Still some mysteries

Rosby wave & El Nino

Eddy in the Gulf

Future Work

Current Gustiness
shorter recording intervals ADCPs?

Wave Refraction Vertical Coherency


routine use of EOFs

Local measurements Improved models

Moral: Take into account the fluid flow !

Congo Canyon Cable


3.5
6 5

Cable Breaks Per Year

3
Numbers of Breaks

2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

4 3 2 1

18 90

19 20

map_xyouts,11.162,-6.0558,'+Exxon1'

0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Years
Africa

300

Discharge (kg/s)

250 200 150 100 50 0

+Nemba + Kuito +Area C

Total sediment Bed Load

8 | 8

7 | 7 +Exx1

+129-3X 6 | 6 5 | 5 +Exx2 4 | 4 3 | 3 2 | 2 1 | 1

Buoy Releases

Congo River Mouth 1000 m 500 m 100 m 50 m

Mar

Feb

Aug

Sep

Nov

Jan

Jun

Apr

Jul

Oct

May

Dec

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