[DLS] Jiayan Yang (WHOI)

“Shelf Flow Transport and Coastal Sea Level Changes Along the East Coast of North America”

The long-standing view of the alongshore flows in the Northwest Atlantic (NWA) coastal ocean, from southern Greenland to Cape Hatteras, is that they are predominantly driven by terrestrial discharges of freshwater. In this study, we challenge this perspective and demonstrate that wind stress plays a more important role in maintaining the mean state of NWA shelf circulation. Ocean circulations and sea level are closed linked through the geostrophic balance. Observations from tide gauge stations and satellite altimeters reveal significant variations of coastal sea level from intraseasonal to decadal timescales. Notably, the seasonal cycle of sea level has undergone substantial changes in the past two decades. Our process modeling results indicate that these variations are primarily driven by local wind stress forcing, while influences from the deep ocean remain minimal due to the strong potential vorticity (PV) gradient across the continental slope, which dynamically isolates the coastal zone from open-ocean processes.

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