@article{discovery1349059, pages = {283--303}, note = {Copyright {\copyright} Cambridge University Press 2012.}, volume = {700}, year = {2012}, title = {Isobath variation and trapping of continental shelf waves}, month = {June}, journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics}, keywords = {geophysical and geological flows, shallow water flows, topographic effects}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2012.153}, abstract = {Since Tr{\"o}sch (Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Numerical Modeling, Tainan, Taiwan, 1984 (ed. H. M. Hsia, Y. L. Chou, S. Y. Wang \& S. J. Hsieh) Science and Technology Series, vol. 63, 1986, pp. 307-311. American Astronautical Society) found trapped sub-inertial oscillations in computations of low-frequency variability in the Lake of Lugano, models of trapping have generally considered evenly spaced isobaths parallel to shorelines with approximate boundary conditions at any shelf-ocean boundary. Here an asymptotic analysis for slowly varying topography and accurate spectral computations demonstrate trapping on non-rectilinear shelves. It is shown that changes in any of three factors, isobath curvature, distance from the coast and the shelf-break, and the slope at the shelf-break, are sufficient on their own to give trapping. Continental shelves that abut smoothly onto the open ocean are considered thus avoiding the shelf-ocean boundary condition approximation and allowing the accuracy of previous approximations to be assessed.}, author = {Kaoullas, G and Johnson, ER}, issn = {0022-1120} }