El Nino really is characterized by an atmospheric pressure reversal…

Low Pressure in W. Pacific (Darwin, Australia)

High Pressure in Central Pacific (Tahiti)

Walker circulation keeps warm pool in Western Pacific……

Thermocline is deep in W. Pacific and shallow in E. Pacific
During El Nino, we get an atmospheric pressure reversal from
normal condition…(occurs roughly every 2-10 years)
El Nino: high pressure in Western Pacific
low pressure in central Pacific

Walker circulation breaks down and can even get westerly winds
this allows the Pacific warm pool to spread out across
equatorial region towards S. America
1997/1998 El Nino was the second strongest El Nino on record.

-California received 2X normal rainfall, coastal flooding, and

deadly mudslides
-massive blizzards in Midwest
-2100 deaths and $33 billion in property damage
 Subsurface Ocean Temperature along
equator
• August 1996 (Normal)

• August 1997 (El Niño)

• Ocean response involves

slow wave-like movement

• Once cycle starts, whole

process takes about a year to
recover

4
 Normal Conditions

During an El Nino, the

thermocline in the Eastern
El Nino Conditions
Pacific deepens
dramatically……only get
upwelling of warm, nutrient Note how
poor water the
thermocline
and the fisheries collapse….. has been
La Nina Conditions deepened
by warm
water
 Effects of El Nino
Strong El Nino’s influence weather all over the planet
El Nino alters the jet stream and produces unusal weather
patterns for a given region
 Used to forecast and monitor
El Nino conditions in the
Pacific Ocean

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

7
ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current
Status and Predictions
Summary
Recent Evolution and Current Conditions
Oceanic Niño Index (ONI)
Pacific SST Outlook
U.S. Seasonal Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks
Summary

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/MJO/enso.shtml

Climate Prediction
Center / NCEP
 Waves
(Chap.8)
Nazare Portugal
 Today…
• Wave basics
• Deep and Shallow water waves
• Generation of waves
• Tsunamis
• Surf Forecasting
• Tides
Ocean Waves…Why do we care?

• Because they fascinate us….power and

rhythm….and we also enjoy them (surf,
kayak, sail, etc…)

• they shape the coast we live on

• Ocean transportation -----> shipping

• capability to change lives and

coastlines in an instant (Tsunamis)
Ask these sailors why they care about waves….

54 ft
US carrier
Bennington returning
from Okinawa
 How big can waves get?
According to US Navy Hydrographic office,
theoretical maximum height of wind-generated waves
was 18. 3 meters (60 feet)….

USS Ramapo (1933) encountered 67 mph winds in W. Pacific

near the Phillipines….estimated wave height of 112 feet
 What causes waves?
All waves begin with a disturbance…..a disturbing force
which is really a release of energy

1. Wind blowing across ocean surface

2. Movement of fluids within ocean

with different densities --->
associated with pycnocline

3. Mass movement in the ocean

-underwater landslides
- seafloor movement
 Wave Characteristics

Wavelength = distance from one wave crest to the

next wave crest (units = meters)

Height = Distance from crest to trough.

Period = time it takes for one entire wave

(wavelength) to pass a given point. (units = seconds)
 So, what are waves?
* A wave is a propagation of energy through a medium…

1. There is no net
displacement of water

2. The motion of a parcel of

water within the wave
resembles that of a
circular orbit

These circular orbits are

called wave orbitals
 Wave Orbitals

Wave orbitals decay with depth and a depth is reached where

there is a level of no motion with respect to the surface wave
About ½ the wavelength---------> wave base
 IOOS Partners Anadarko
Marine METAR AOML

National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA)—

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 Origin of ocean waves: storms at sea

3 Factors affect wave energy:

1) Wind speed
2) Wind duration - length of time over which wind blows
3) Fetch - area of ocean over which wind blows
Make an estimate of wave heights based on wind
speed, duration, and fetch…..
 What happens as deep water waves
approach the shore?

As they approach land, they become shallow water

waves: crests get closer together and slow down (V=(gH)1/2)
 Wave Interference: Constructive
and Destructive
• Addition of small
amplitude waves

– Constructive
superposition
– Destructive
superposition

Rogue Waves: chance constructive superposition of multiple waves

since 1980’s, more than 200 cargo ships > 650 feet
lost due to rogue waves
 Rogue

2004 study of rogue waves:

In a 3 week period, the
satellites detected 10 waves
that were at least 82 feet high
 Swell direction

Slowing near shore

leads to: Wave
Refraction

waves tend waves

tend to hit beaches
perpendicularly
Rincon (Santa Barbara) on a big
west swell………
Big South Swell at the Wedge
 Teahupoo, Tahiti

Wave refraction leads to

bending of waves along the
edge of an extremely shallow
coral reef
 Shallow Water Waves
waves of much greater wavelength than
the depth of the ocean
• Can happen in water of any depth.

• How deep is the ocean?

• What causes disturbances with wavelengths longer than
that?

• SEISMIC DISTURBANCES
(submarine earthquakes, landslides)
• Also created by big meteorites potentially

• Resulting waves are called Tsunamis (not tidal waves)

 Tsunami’s (not tidal waves)
(Japanese: tsu = harbor, nami = wave)

Always shallow water waves!

Typical wavelength ~ 200 km ; wavelength is much much

greater than the water depth
 Tsunami’s travel very fast….

Phase Speed = (gH)1/2

H = 4000 m, g = 9.80 m/s2

Phase Speed = 450 mph

If there is an underwater
earthquake in the Aleutian Islands:
~ 2500 miles from West Coast
~ 5 hour travel time

Early warning system is critical……

2004 Boxing Day Tsunami
 The March 2011 Japan tsunami….caused
by a large, powerful displacement of the
North American plate.

2011 Tsunami
 Tides
Two Balancing Forces act on the Earth – Moon System
• Gravity
– Gravitational attraction tends to draw them
together
– Strength varies with location on Earth’s surface
• Centripetal Force
– Caused by rotation about the center of mass
– Tends to drive them apart
– Strength is the same everywhere on Earth’s surface

33
Distortion of the Water Envelope
• The hypothetical ocean of constant depth
will be deformed
• Excess gravity will create a bulge pointing
to the Moon
• Excess centrifugal force will create a bulge
on the opposite side of Earth pointing away
from the Moon

34
Earth-Moon-Sun System

35
 Tide Patterns

• Diurnal tide
• Semidiurnal tide
• Semidiurnal mixed
tide

36
 Terminology
• Uniform diurnal or semidiurnal tides (St. Augustine)
– High water and Low water
• Mixed Semidiurnal tide
– Higher high water and Lower high water
– Higher low water and Lower low water
• Tidal range
– Vertical difference in water level from high tide to low tide
• Tidal datum
– Either mean low water or mean lower lower water over 1 year
• Flood tide
– Water level is rising
• Ebb tide
– Water level is dropping
• Minus tide
– Water level is below the tidal datum
37
 Distribution of Tidal Patterns

Bay of Fundy tide 11-50ft!!!

38
 Predicting Tides and Tidal Currents
• Tide tables
– Available on Internet saltwatertides.com
– Dates, times, water levels for high and low water at
primary tide stations
• Tidal current tables
– Times of slack water, maximum flood currents and
maximum ebb currents, and current speed
– Importance for oceanographers
– Importance for commercial vessels and
pleasure boaters

39
 Tidal Currents
• Currents associated with rising and falling
coastal waters
• Water moves into a region during flood tide
and out of a region during ebb tide
• Slack water
– When the tide turns, changing from ebb to
flood or flood to ebb.
– Tidal currents slow to a stop and then reverse

40
 Tidal Bores
• Large wave caused by the funneling of a flood tide as
it enters a long, narrow, shallow inlet.
• Large amplitude tides
• Hazards

silver dragon

http://www.supracer.com/stand-up-paddle-sur
fing-tidal-bore-river-wave-france/