Topographic Response of Nearshore Currents to Wind: An Empirical Model

Abstract

Observations of winds and currents along the northshore of Lake Ontario are analyzed to evaluate effects of topographic wave propagation on wind-driven currents. Lagged cross-correlations and spectral transfer functions between winds and currents are found to be consistent with the mechanism of resonant topographic-wave response in the presence of bottom friction. Transfer function models in the time domain are shown to explain 70 to 80 percent of the variance of observed currants.