Continental Shelf Waves 



In Fig. 7 the lowest- mode wave speed Cj (= -^fl/v^, where i^, is the lowest 

 eigenvalue as determined by Eq. (31)) is plotted as a function of Vg for the case 

 of the east Australian coast in the neighborhood of Sydney to Coff's Harbour 

 (f = -0.73x10"'* sec"^). From Fig. 7 we observe that for Vq in the range 50 to 

 100 cm/sec (typical East Australian Current speeds) and for all values of A^ 

 considered, there is now excellent agreement between the theoretical and ob- 

 served wave speeds. Even for Vg = 0, it is interesting to note, Cj is only about 

 10 percent greater than the observed speed; this is to say, the main shortcom- 

 ing of the earlier models was the absence of deep-sea stratification. However, 

 the wave speeds are relatively insensitive to changes in stratification (Fig. 7). 

 Finally, we conclude this paper by noting that in each A^ curve, c j decreases 

 (essentially linearly) with increasing Vq . This result suggests that we can the- 

 oretically determine the speed of an essentially surface deep-sea current which 

 flows alongside a continental shelf by analyzing the sea level at the coast. How- 

 ever, since the wave speed in any small coastal section (distance of the order 



50 



100 

 V^ (cm/sec) 



150 



200 



Fig. 7 - East Australian coast shelf wave 

 speed of lowest eigenvalue vs deep-sea 

 current speed for varied deep-sea strat- 

 ification 



493 



