Dispersion Relation for Continental Shelf Waves When the Shallow Shelf Part Has an Arbitrary Width: Application to the Shelf West of Norway

Abstract

he dispersion relation for continental shelf waves (CSWs) in a shelf region with an unbounded flat outer ocean, a convex-upward exponential shelf, and an interior flat region of arbitrary width D is derived. The calculations allow for a nonzero divergence of the wave motion. Some consequences of these findings are discussed for the shelf west of Norway, where the shelf at mid-Norway is quite wide, while at Lofoten it is much narrower. Furthermore, north of Lofoten, along the opening to the Barents Sea, the shelf becomes extremely wide. In this region the conditions are nearly met for a double Kelvin wave. The paper discusses how CSWs generated along the common storm track outside southwest Norway modify as they travel along the shelf. The analytical results are compared with results from a numerical barotropic ocean model with realistic shelf topography.