The surface winds over Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and their oceanographic effects
This 1954 report accumulates all available wind report summaries have been in the form of monthly wind roses for each reporting station and makes a determination of the frequency and maximum duration of surface winds of above average velocity at selected stations over a three year period.
Abstract
The surface winds which occur over the waters of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca present a complex picture. Strongly affected by topography, they cannot be predicted or fully explained solely by consideration of the changing atmospheric pressure patterns over or near the region.
A detailed summary of accumulated surface wind reports is desirable, therefore, to satisfy the increasing demand for a reasonably accurate climatic picture of the surface flow over this region throughout the year. In particular, oceanographic and fishery investigations being conducted in these waters have shown the need for more detailed and comprehensive information of this sort than is presently available.
This report attempts to partially satisfy this need in two ways. First, all available wind report summaries have been accumulated in the form of monthly wind roses for each reporting station. Secondly, a determination has been made of the frequency and maximum duration of surface winds of above average velocity at selected stations over a three year period.
Particular meteorological situations have been selected and discussed, to serve as examples of the general or unusual flow patterns derived from the summarized data.
Some of the oceanographic effects of these surface winds are discussed, and approximate calculations are made of the maximum heights of wind waves which may have occurred on Sound waters during the three year period for which high surface wind data were compiled. With the use of empirical formulae, semi-quantitative estimations have also been made of the stress on the water surface due to the surface wind flow, and of the currents and water level slopes which might result.
