Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Horizontal transport on the continental shelf driven by periodic rotary wind stress
Nathan Paldorand Lazar Friedland
Abstract. Wind driven circulation on a linearly sloping continental shelf is studied by employing the Lagrangian equations of motion forced by periodic rotary wind stress. The analysis yields explicit approximate expressions for the water column trajectories in the longshore and cross-shore directions, and these expressions are verified by numerical integration of the governing nonlinear equations. The periodic rotary wind stress generates a steady longshore drift directed with land to its left when the wind rotates counterclockwise at sub-inertial frequencies and with land to its right in all other frequencies. Counterclockwise rotation of the wind at the local inertial frequency results in a strong resonance manifested in very fast longshore drift.
Received: 20 Oct 2025 – Discussion started: 30 Oct 2025
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The work develops a Lagrangian theory of the transport on the continental shelf forced by periodically rotating wind driven. A strong resonance occurs when the wind stress rotates counterclockwise at the local Coriolis frequency, manifested in a fast longshore drift. For clockwise sub-inertial wind rotation the drift is directed with the coast to its right while in all other frequencies the drift is directed with the coast to its left.
The work develops a Lagrangian theory of the transport on the continental shelf forced by...
