Eddy formation behind a coastal cape in a flow generated by transient longshore wind (Numerical experiments)

Abstract

It is shown that the process of eddy formation behind a coastal cape essentially depends on the method by which longshore flow is generated. Numerical simulations of the flow around a cape generated by transient longshore wind have revealed different modes of eddy formation in a rotating stratified environment depending on such dimensionless parameters as the Burger and Kibel–Rossby numbers, Bu and Ro, respectively. At Ro < 0.6, depending on the magnitude of Bu, either a trapped anticyclonic or cyclonic eddy (at Bu < 0.2) or periodic eddy shedding (at Bu < 0.2) forms. The eddies are weakened and stretched along the coastline at 0.4–0.6 < Ro < 1.4 and ultimately disappear at Ro < 1.4.