  We present an idealized study of the baroclinic structure of a rotating,
stratified throughflow across a finite amplitude ridge in the f-plane that is
forced by a steady, uniform inflow and outflow of equal magnitude. The
resulting equilibrated circulation is characterized by unstable,
western-intensified boundary currents and flow along f/H contours atop the
ridge near the crest that closes the forced circulation. We find that bottom
Ekman dynamics localized to lateral boundary currents amplify the
stratification expected by simple stretching/squashing: a strongly stratified
bottom front (high PV anomaly) along the anticyclonic boundary current
associated with net upslope transport, and a bottom mixed layer front
(vanishing PV anomaly) localized to the cyclonic boundary current where there
is net downslope transport. PV anomalies associated with the two fronts are
advected by both the mean flow and eddies that result from baroclinic growth,
resulting in a spatial distribution where high PV is concentrated along the
ridge, and low PV is advected into the interior ocean downstream from the
ridge, at mid-depth. Using a framework of volume integrated PV conservation
which incorporates the net fluxes associated with bottom topography, we conform
an approximate integral balance between the PV injection from the bottom
boundary layer on the ridge and net advection across the ridge. Implications of
these findings for understanding the interplay between large scale and bottom
boundary dynamics are discussed.
