Coastal Gulf of Alaska Grid

The model was spun-up with NCEP winds during the year 2000, then run for 2001
with MM5 winds, and boundary conditions from the NEP run with MM5 winds.
Results show a strong Alaskan Coastal Current (ACC), and lots of 200-km scale eddies.
Surface floats show retention on banks and in eddies, and respond to downwelling wind events:

Sea Surface Height	Surface Floats and Sea Surface Height
Movie of sea surface height (meters), Dec. 8, 2000 - March 14, 2001.	Movie of sea surface height (meters) and surface floats, Dec. 8, 2000 - March 9, 2001. Floats are reset to their initial positions every 16 days.

The time period Dec. 2000 through Feb. 2001 was re-run with NCEP forcing to
examine the effect of using the fine-scale MM5 winds. MM5's increased along-
shore orientation increases the strength of the ACC and causes eddies
to move through the area faster.

Both Winds and Sea Surface Height Difference	Cross-sections and Surface Density
Movie of surface wind from MM5 (black) and NCEP (red) in m/s, and the difference in sea surface height (MM5-NCEP, meters) between model runs forced with these winds.	A movie density in the region with MM5 (bottom) and NCEP (top).