On the Dynamics of Wind-Driven Lake Currents

A model of the vertical mixing in Lake Erie in summer

“…The time scales of interest here are of the order r/f = 8.9 h and the time for a wave to propagate from the shore to the center of the lake is much longer: typically 50 h or more during the period of interest. Furthermore, in Lake Erie, the ratio of the internal Rossby radius of deformation to the width of the lake ~5 km/80 km < 1, and Csanady (1973) and Bennett (1974) have demonstrated that in such a case the quasistatic response of the lake produces a negligible tilt of the thermocline in the center of the basin. Thus, while this may not be possible in situations with either stronger stratification or basins of smaller size, we can here neglect the effects of interfacial slope in Eq.…”

On the dynamics of shallow water currents in Massachusetts Bay and on the New England continental shelf

“…Recent investigations have shown the importance of wind, topography, and thermal structure in determining the circulation on the continental shelf, shallow seas, and the Great Lakes (for example, Bennett, 1974;Csanady, 1973a,b, 1974 , andothers). A somewhat neglected aspect (with the notable exception of Stommel and Leetmaa (1972) ), or assumed to be less important, has been the circulation driven by the discharge of fresh water at the coast by rivers.…”

“…Similar dominance of the low frequency currents by wind stress on the continental shelf and Great Lakes has been noted by Beardsley and Butman (1974), Csanady (1973a,b) and Blanton (1974) among others. Theoretical and numerical studies of flow in closed basins such as the Great Lakes (Rao and Murty, 1970;Bennett, 1974;Csanady, 1973a) suggest that topographic variations in a long lake produce a 'two gyre' flow pattern in response to wind along the major axis; flow is in the direction of the wind in shallow areas and opposite to the wind in the deep regions, the return flow being driven by a surface pressure gradient or setup. The large depth changes and the semi-enclosed geometry of Deviation from mean level is corrected for the inverse barometer effect using atmospheric pressure measured at Logan Airport.…”

Dynamics of bottom currents in a small lake1

“…In addition, because horizontal dimensions are small and slopes are generally steep, many details of slope-induced cross-sectional current structure such as subsurface jets (predicted by Bennett 1974) will not be detectable. Therefore wind setup and internal gravity waves remain the principal driving forces for hypolimnetic currents.…”