A Topographic–Rossby Mode Resonance over the Iceland–Faeroe Ridge

Abstract

An array of current meter moorings along 12°W on the southern side of the lceland-Faeroe Ridge reveals a narrowband barotropic oscillation with period 1.8 days in spectra of velocity. The signal is coherent over at least 55-km scales and propagates phase with shallow water on the right (toward the northwest). Velocity ellipses tend to be elongated (crossing contours of f/H) and rotate anticyclonically. Solutions of the rigid-lid barotropic shallow-water equations predict the occurrence of a topographic-Rossby normal mode on the south side of the ridge with spatial scales exceeding 250 km and with intrinsic period near 1.84 days. This fundamental mode of the south side of the ridge has predicted spatial structure, phase propagation, and velocity ellipses consistent with the observed oscillation. The frictional amplitude e-folding decay time for this normal mode is estimated from the observations to be 13 days. The observed ocean currents are significantly coherent with zonal wind stress fluctuations (but not with wind stress curl) in the relevant period band, which indicates the oscillation is wind forced. This appears to be the first clear evidence of a stochastically forced resonant barotropic topographic-Rossby normal mode in the ocean.