VISCID EASTERN BOUNDARY DYNAMICS AND THE SPREADING OF MEDITERRANEAN WATER ALONG THE PORTUGUESE CONTINENTAL-SLOPE

A linear, continuously stratified model is used to investigate the flo ws generated by a midlatitude, eastern boundary zonal inflow represent ing the flux of Mediterranean Water into the North Atlantic. The model allows for time dependence and vertical mixing of density and meridio nal momentum and assumes a geostrophic balance for zonal momentum. Ros sby and Kelvin wave propagation and dissipation away from the inflow r egion determine the character of the analytical solutions. For both pe riodic and steady forcing and for a wide range of mixing coefficients, currents have a significant boundary signature. Inflows generate pole ward currents at the depth of the forcing and weaker countercurrents a bove and below. The amplitude of meridional coastal flows can be subst antially larger than the amplitudes of the forcing jet, and interior f lows are generally weaker. Zonal decay scales depend on the amount of mixing and the relative importance of Kelvin and Rossby wave dynamics in the solutions.