Stress Distribution in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aqaba

Abstract

A scale analysis indicates that the cross-axial component of the vorticity equation reduces to a two-term expression: a buoyancy gradient term and a term involving the depth-derivative of the shear stress. We have computed surface stresses by integrating this equation between sill depth and the surface, assuming a negligible stress below sill depth. Whenever stratification is pronounced (N2≥3?10?4 sec?2), the surface stresses, thus computed using actual measurements, are in reasonably good agreement with the observed wind stresses at various seasons and locations.