Jw. Loder et al., CIRCULATION, HYDROGRAPHIC STRUCTURE AND MIXING AT TIDAL FRONTS - THE VIEW FROM GEORGES BANK, Philosophical transactions-Royal Society of London. Physical sciences and engineering, 343(1669), 1993, pp. 447-460
The steep slope on the northern side of Georges Bank and its location
in the Fundy-Maine tidal system result in a persistent summertime fron
tal system comprising a tidal-mixing front and a stratified tide-topog
raphy interaction at the Bank edge. Recent field studies have provided
a high-resolution description of the circulation, hydrographic struct
ure and mixing in the region. Frontal features include an along-front
residual jet, a surface convergence zone, regular variations in fronta
l structure and position over the tidal period and tidal modulation cy
cle, large-amplitude internal waves, and strong spatial and temporal v
ariations in small-scale turbulence. The observations suggest that the
magnitude of cross-front and vertical exchange in frontal regions can
be site-specific depending on the relative importance of the underlyi
ng physical processes.