A description of hydrography, winds, and currents during the upwelling season near Newport, Oregon

Graduation date: 1972Several series of measurements of the hydrography, currents,\ud and winds during the past ten years are used as a basis for an overview\ud of the physical oceanography and meteorology during the\ud upwelling season near Newport, Oregon. Data are described using\ud elementary statistics, progressive vector diagrams, coordinate system\ud independent spectra, and complex demodulation.\ud The resulting description strengthens and extends the conceptual\ud model of coastal upwelling. Averages of various series of data are\ud calculated with the aim of making the collected information more\ud readily available and giving perspective to specific data.\ud The time series analysis indicates which bands of frequencies\ud contain important portions of the coherent energy. Complex demodulation\ud is used to show how the energy in selected frequency bands is\ud distributed as a function of time.\ud It is concluded that the long-term seasonal average of the winds\ud and the hydrography behaves smoothly, but the short-term fluctuations\ud around the average are important. The relationships between the\ud short-term variations in the current and hydrography are as yet\ud unclear, but directions are indicated for further analysis and experimentation