TY - JOUR SN - 0022-1120 Y1 - 2012/06// TI - Isobath variation and trapping of continental shelf waves AV - public N2 - Since Trösch (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. UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2012.153 EP - 303 ID - discovery1349059 VL - 700 N1 - Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012. SP - 283 A1 - Kaoullas, G A1 - Johnson, ER JF - Journal of Fluid Mechanics KW - geophysical and geological flows KW - shallow water flows KW - topographic effects ER -