The Importance of Density Stratification to Bottom Boundary Layers over Continental Margins

Abstract

Because continental margins are inclined, the boundary layer over them is tied to bottom density as well as to the barotropic pressure gradient. Through the no-flux condition at the sea floor, the bottom boundary layer, in turn, constrains the interior density field. The barotropic pressure gradient and the baroclinic velocity are thus coupled. Theoretical analysis in the framework of a model of linear dynamics demonstrates this coupling and resolves it.