Dense Shelf Water Cascading and Associated Bedforms

6 pagesSea-atmosphere interactions play an important role in oceanographic processes at various spatial and temporal scales. In the world oceans, several regions are key spots of intense air-sea interactions which considerably affect the heat and water budgets. An example of this is the formation of dense waters by cooling, evaporation or freezing over continental shelf regions. Dense shelf waters can eventually cascade to greater depths over the continental slope, being occasionally channelized through submarine canyons, until they reach an equilibrium depth of equal density. The enhanced current velocities associated with this oceanographic process are capable of generating erosive and depositional bedforms along the dense water pathwaysPeer Reviewe