WHOI PO

Over the outer continental shelfin the Middle Atlantic Bight, intrusions of relatively salty water fromoffshore are often found both at mid depth during stratified seasons and nearthe bottom when throughout the year. The possibility that these intrusions arethe result of instabilities of the shelfbreak front is pursued using anidealized primitive equation numerical model. Results show that indeedrealistic salty intrusions are generated and that their properties are notdissimilar to known climatologies: the model intrusions are most common in thestratified interior of the water column and become increasingly rare shorewardof the front. No simulated mid-depth intrusions develop when the shelf watercolumn is weakly stratified, consistent with observations. Modeled near-bottomintrusions, on the other hand, occur more frequently as stratification weakens.Sensitivity to other model conditions (such as bottom friction, bottom slope,rotation rate and frontal strength) are also explored. The model eddy saltfluxes onto the shelf, however, fall short of that required by a shelf salinitybudget.