In August of 2006 the Adaptive Sampling and Prediction (ASAP) experiment was conducted near the northern Monterey Bay. Multiple assets including aircraft, autonomous vehicles, moorings, and numerical models were used to gain a better understanding of three-dimensional upwelling centers. Data were collected at two separate mooring locations using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) during the experiment. The focus of this thesis is to determine the effects of local wind forcing on the ocean circulation and provide a comparison between the data collected at the mooring locations and numerical predictions for the region. Upwelling and relaxation events are used as the basis for understanding the local wind forcing. Upwelling typically results in equatorward flow while relaxation events typically result in poleward flow. Several different types of analyses were used to determine the effects of the local wind forcing. A visual analysis was performed with stick vector plots and component plots of the rotated time series that compared the wind with the data from the water column. Two methods of cross correlation, component correlations and vector correlations, were exploited as well as a spectral analysis of the wind and ADCP data. Finally the coherence and phase between the wind and currents were examined. Based on the analysis it became evident that the currents were forced by both wind and non-local events such as eddies, meanders, and the large-scale alongshelf pressure gradient. Associated with the ASAP experiment, the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS), the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) provided nowcasts that were compared with the mooring data to determine their accuracy and precision. Overall, in the beginning of August the models provided reasonable representations of the flow patterns at the mooring locations. The prediction error increased towards the end of August which was possibly related to data assimilation techniques and more non-local forcing at that time. The military application of this thesis is that accurate current prediction by ocean models will benefit amphibious operations, special warfare operations, and mine warfare in the littoral zone.

The interplay between the Point Ano Nuevo upwelling center, an offshore anticyclonic mesoscale eddy, and the waters of the Monterey Bay was studied during a series of up- and downwelling favorable wind events during August 2000. The upwelling events were characterized by the appearance of cold, salty water at Point Ano Nuevo at the north end of the bay that subsequently spread southward across the mouth of the bay as the winds continued. During the downwelling/relaxation events, the surface current and temperature response was dominated by the onshore translation of the offshore eddy and by local surface heating in the bay itself. The circulation within the bay was cyclonic during both wind regimes but slightly more barotropic under poleward forcing. The ICON model, a nested, data assimilating, sigma coordinate model, was used to simulate The upwelling and relaxation events and calculate the subsurface current and density fields. The model reproduced the dominant current and temperature patterns outside the bay, including the southward flowing upwelling filament, the movement of the offshore eddy, the poleward flow off Point Sur, and the circulation within the bay. The model salinity fields at the surface and 100 m levels show that during upwelling, the bay was filled with higher-salinity water stemming from the Point Ano Nuevo upwelling center to the north. During downwelling, the source water for both the surface and 100 m levels was the colder, fresher California Current water offshore, which had advected southward well past Point Pinos during the previous upwelling event.

With both the growing importance of integrating studies of air-sea interaction and the interest in the general problem of global warming, the appearance of the second edition of this popular text is especially welcome. Thoroughly updated and revised, the authors have retained the accessible, comprehensive expository style that distinguished the earlier edition. Topics include the state of matter near the interface, radiation, surface wind waves, turbulent transfer near the interface, the planetary boundary layer, atmospherically-forced perturbations in the oceans, and large-scale forcing by sea surface buoyancy fluxes. This book will be welcomed by students and professionals in meteorology, physical oceanography, physics and ocean engineering.

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The proliferation of harmful phytoplankton in marine ecosystems can cause massive fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, impact local and regional economies and dramatically affect ecological balance. Real-time observations are essential for effective short-term operational forecasting, but observation and modelling systems are still being developed. This volume provides guidance for developing real-time and near real-time sensing systems for observing and predicting plankton dynamics, including harmful algal blooms, in coastal waters. The underlying theory is explained and current trends in research and monitoring are discussed.Topics covered include: coastal ecosystems and dynamics of harmful algal blooms; theory and practical applications of in situ and remotely sensed optical detection of microalgal distributions and composition; theory and practical applications of in situ biological and chemical sensors for targeted species and toxin detection; integrated observing systems and platforms for detection; diagnostic and predictive modelling of ecosystems and harmful algal blooms, including data assimilation techniques; observational needs for the public and government; and future directions for research and operations.