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Patterns Of Ocean Current Variability On The West Florida Shelf Using The Self-Organizing Map, Yonggang Liu, Robert H. Weisberg

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Patterns of ocean current variability are examined on the West Florida Shelf by a neural network analysis based on the self‐organizing map (SOM), using time series of moored velocity data that span the interval October 1998–September 2001. Three characteristic spatial patterns are extracted in a 3 × 4 SOM array: spatially coherent southeastward and northwestward flow patterns with strong currents and a transition pattern of weak currents. On the synoptic weather timescale the variations of these patterns are coherent with the local winds. On the seasonal timescale the variations of the patterns are coherent with both the local winds and …