Identifier

etd-06302013-163935

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Oceanography and Coastal Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Near Inertial Oscillations (NIOs) are widely observed in ocean current data after severe weather. In this work, we analyzed the NIOs in the Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) associated with 6 hurricanes/tropical storms in 2005, including Katrina and Rita, based on the deep ocean mooring from Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), LSU. The basic characteristics of the NIOs, such as phase speed, group speed, frequency, energy were discussed. The phase speed ranged from 0.56 cm/s to 2 cm/s above the thermocline for the NIOs during Hurricane Katrina and Rita, while the group velocity varied from 0.047 cm/s above the thermocline to 0.25cm/s below it for the NIOs during Hurricane Karina. The theory of NIO frequency: feff=f+ζ/2 were examined with Sea Surface Height (SSH) data, and a correlation between the real and theoretical frequencies was established (R2=0.32). A comparison between the strength of Loop Current (LC) and NIOs induced by severe hurricanes was also made. The result shows that the LC could have comparable instant high energy as severe hurricane induced NIOs, while the impact of a strong LC could last longer.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Li, Chunyan

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.2662

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