NAMA : ELVIRA ROSA MEGARANI

NRP : 03311840000010

RESUME OCEANOGRAPHY CHAPTER 10

GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS
For most of the ocean volume away from the boundary layers, which have a
characteristic thickness of 100 metres (about 330 feet), frictional forces are of minor
importance, and the equation of motion  for horizontal forces can be expressed as a simple
balance of horizontal pressure  gradient and Coriolis force. This is called geostrophic current.
On a nonrotating  earth , water would be accelerated by a horizontal pressure gradient and
would flow from high to low . On the rotating Earth, however, the Coriolis force deflects the
motion, and the acceleration ceases only when the speed, U, of the current is just fast enough
to produce a Coriolis force that can exactly balance the horizontal pressure-gradient force.
This geostrophic balance is given as dp/dx = v2ω sin θ, and dp/dy = –u2 sin,
where dp/dx and dp/dy are the horizontal pressure gradient along the x-axis and y-axis,
respectively, and u and v are the horizontal components of the velocity U along the x-axis
and y-axis, respectively. From this balance it follows that the current direction must be
perpendicular to the pressure gradient because the Coriolis force always acts perpendicular to
the motion.
The simple equation given above provides the basis for an indirect method of computing
ocean currents.
The relief of the sea surface also defines the streamlines (paths) of the geostrophic
current at the surface relative to the deep reference level. The hills represent high pressure,
and the valleys stand for low pressure. Clockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere with
higher pressure in the centre of rotation is called anticyclonic motion. Counterclockwise
rotation with lower pressure in its centre is cyclonic motion. In the Southern Hemisphere the
sense of rotation is the opposite, because the effect of the Coriolis force has changed its sign
of deflection.

Hydrostatic equilibrium

The principle of hydrostatic equilibrium is that the pressure at any point in a fluid at rest
(whence, “hydrostatic”) is just due to the weight of the overlying fluid.As pressure is just
force per unit area, the pressure at the bottom of a fluid is just the weight of a column of the
fluid, one unit of area in cross-section.This principle is simple to apply to incompressible
fluids, such as most liquids (e.g., water). [Note that water and other common liquids are not
strictly incompressible; but very high pressures are required to change their densities
appreciably.] If the fluid is incompressible, so that the density is independent of the pressure,
the weight of a column of liquid is just proportional to the height of the liquid above the level
where the pressure is measured. In fact, the mass of a unit-area column of height h and
density ρ is just ρh; and the weight of the column is its mass times the acceleration of
gravity, g. But the weight of the unit-area column is the force it exerts per unit area at its base
— i.e., the pressure. So

P  =  g ρ h .

Examples

For example, the density of water is 1000 kilograms per cubic meter (in SI units), so the
weight of a cubic meter of water is 1000 kg times g, the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/sec2),
or 9800 newtons. This force is exerted over 1 m2, so the pressure produced by a 1-meter
depth of water is 9800 pascals (the Pa is the SI unit of pressure, equal to 1 newton per square
meter).

The unit of pressure used in atmospheric work on Earth is the hectopascal; 1 hPa = 100 Pa.
So the pressure 1 m below the surface of water (ignoring the pressure exerted by the
atmosphere on top of it) is 98 hPa. Standard atmospheric pressure is 1013.25 hPa, so it takes
1013.25/98 = 10.33 meters of water to produce a pressure of 1 atmosphere. (That's about 34
feet, for those who like obsolete units.)

The pressure in the ocean increases by about 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters of depth. The
average depth of the ocean is about 4 km, so the pressure on the sea floor is about 400
atmospheres.

Surface Geostrphic currents from altimetry

The geostrophic approximation applied at the sea surface leads to very simple relation
between surface slope and surface current. The oceanic topographi is define the topography
of the sea surface to be the height of the sea surface realtive to a particular level surface. Such
an accurate satellite altimeter-system can measure :
1. Changes in the global mean voulme of the ocean

2. Seasonal heating and cooling of the ocean

3. Tides

4. The permanent surface geostrophic current system

5. Changes in surface geostrophic currents on all scales

6. Variations on topography of equatorial currents system such as those sociated with El Nino

Error for this satellite altimetry system are due to :

1. Instrument noise, ocean waves, water vapor, free electron in the ionosphere, and mass
of the atmosphere
2. Tracking errors
3. Sampling errors
4. Geoid error

Geostrophic currents from hydrography

 
To use geostrophy to infer currents at depth we need to determine not only the pressure
gradient due to the sloping sea surface, but also the subsurface pressure gradients due to
variable density stratification.
 
Though we can measure water pressure with a pressure transducer lowered from a ship, we
can’t simply use this observation because we seldom have an independent way of measuring
depth. Even if we could measure depth independently, it would have to be a very precise
measurement: A 10 cm/s current corresponds to a pressure gradient of
 

  Pa m-1  or   1000 Pa  in  100 km

 
From the hydrostatic relation we know that 1000 Pa is equivalent to the pressure change due
to 10 cm of water. We would need to know the depth of the pressure gauge to accuracy much
better than 10 cm to make an observation adequate for calculating geostrophic currents, and
we would still need to deal with the issue of the slope of the geoid.
 
 
Geopotential surfaces in the ocean
 
In practice, what we do in oceanography is to estimate the slope of the geopotential surface at
one depth compared to another, and this tells us the relative strength of the current at the two
depths. This is a complimentary approach to that used in satellite altimetry which calculated
the slope of a constant pressure surface (p = patmosphere). 
 

Stewart Figure 10.7: Sketch of geometry used for calculating geostrophic current from
hydrography.

 
The steps taken are:
 
1.     Calculate the differences in geopotential  between two different pressure surfaces
1 and 2
2.     Calculate the slope of the upper surface relative to the lower from observations at
two locations A and B
3.     Calculate current at the upper surface relative to the lower – this is the current shear
4.     Integrate vertically the shear in the current assuming some knowledge of the current
at a reference depth
 
We use a modified form of the hydrostatic equation, which for historical reasons is written:
 

 
so that  d  is the change in potential energy associated with raising 1 kg through a distance
of dz.  Units are energy per unit mass, J/kg, or m2/s2.
 
The geostrophic balance is written:
 

          
 
where   is the geopotential along a constant pressure surface.
 

Now consider how hydrographic data can be used to evaluate 

 The standard geopotential distance is the same at any horizontal location in the ocean
because there is no variation in the vertical profile of T or S, so this is not going to enter into
 
Consider now the geopotential anomaly between P1 and P2 at two different stations A and B:
 
For simplicity, assume the lower surface is a level surface i.e. the constant pressure and
geopotential surfaces coincide.
 
The slope of the upper surface is similar to the way that we calculated surface velocity from
altimetry from the slope of the sea surface (also a constant pressure surface).
 
Units:  s.(m2/s2)/m = m/s   (geopotential anomaly has units of m2/s2)
 
Geopotential anomaly is often referred to as dynamic height.
 Steric height measures variations in the vertical distance between two surfaces of constant
pressure, and should be stated as the steric height of surface p1 relative to po, e.g., the height
of the sea surface (p1  = 0) relative to 1000 decibars (approximately 1000 m).
 
The velocity v is perpendicular to the plane of the two hydrographic stations and directed into
the plane the way the figure is sketched.
 
A useful rule of thumb is that the flow is such that lighter (less dense, warmer) water is
on the right looking in the downstream direction in the northern hemisphere – light on
the right.
 
This only works if the level surface is below (which is a very good assumption)

Converting relative velocity to velocity

1. Assume a level of no motion
 2. Use known currents
3. Use conservation equations

Disadvantage of calculating currents from Hydrographic data

1. Hydrographic data can be used to calculate only the currents relative at current at the
another level
2. The assumption of a level of no motion may be suitable in the deep ocean
3. Geostrophic currents cannot be calculated from hydrographic station that are closer
together
4. Hydrographic station must be repeated to obtain the mean and variable components of
the currents

The important limitations of the geostrophic assumcption are :

1. Geostrophic currents cannot evolve with time

2. The balance ignores acceleration of the flow, therefore it does not apply of oceanic
flows with horizontal dimensions less than roughly 50 km and times less than a few
days
3. The geostrophic balances does not apply near the equator where the Coriolis forces
goes to zero
4. The geostrohic balances ignores the influences of friction.

Eulerian measurements of currents

Errors in measurements Eulerians currents arise from :

 Mooring motion
 Inadequate sampling
 Fouling of the sensors by marine organism, especially instruments deployed for
more than few weeks close to the surface