A mesoscale atmospheric model is used to address the characteristics of str
atified how bounded by a side wall along a varying coastline. Initial Froud
e number values are varied through alteration of marine inversion strength,
permitting examination of supercritical, subcritical, and transcritical fl
ow regimes encountering several coastal configurations. Consistent with sha
llow water models, sharp drops in boundary layer depth and flow acceleratio
n occur in flow rounding convex bends; however, significant flow response o
ccurs in the stratified layer aloft, which is unexplained by conventional s
hallow water theory. The strongest flow acceleration occurs in the transcri
tical case while, regardless of inversion strength, the deformation of the
isentropes aloft shows general structural similarity.
Advection of horizontal momentum is an important component of the horizonta
l force balance. A simulation having several coastline bends exhibits a det
ached, oblique hydraulic jump upwind of a concave bend that strongly blocks
the flow. For the single-bend case, a shallow water similarity theory for
stratified flow provides qualitative, and partial quantitative, agreement w
ith the mesoscale model, in the boundary layer and aloft. Horizontal struct
ure functions for these similarity solutions satisfy a set of equivalent sh
allow water equations. This comparison provides a new perspective on previo
us shallow water models of supercritical flow around coastal bends and sugg
ests that the existence of the supercritical flow response may depend more
on the presence of a low-level jet than on a sharp boundary layer inversion
.