Coastal Jet Response to Large-Scale Variability

The coastal jet along the North American West Coast is a persistent feature of the summertime environment. The jet has important consequences on coastal ocean upwelling and on the occurrence of marine stratus. The strength and position of the jet is known to vary due to synoptic-scale variations that occur on 1-7 day time scales. Longer-time scale evolution can also occur due to climate variations on seasonal to sub-seasonal time scales. The impact of the longer time scale variations are examined for their impact on the jet dynamics as well as how they relate to marine stratus formation and coverage. Climate simulations using the high resolution NICAM model are used to quantify the jet and boundary layer response to large-scale variations.