scholarly journals Resolving the horizontal direction of internal tide generation

2019 ◽  
Vol 864 ◽  
pp. 381-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Pollmann ◽  
Jonas Nycander ◽  
Carsten Eden ◽  
Dirk Olbers
Keyword(s):  
Internal Wave ◽  
Energy Flux ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Practical Advantage ◽  
Analytical Approaches

The mixing induced by breaking internal gravity waves is an important contributor to the ocean’s energy budget, shaping, inter alia, nutrient supply, water mass transformation and the large-scale overturning circulation. Much of the energy input into the internal wave field is supplied by the conversion of barotropic tides at rough bottom topography, which hence needs to be described realistically in internal gravity wave models and mixing parametrisations based thereon. A new semi-analytical method to describe this internal wave forcing, calculating not only the total conversion but also the direction of this energy flux, is presented. It is based on linear theory for variable stratification and finite depth, that is, it computes the energy flux into the different vertical modes for two-dimensional, subcritical, small-amplitude topography and small tidal excursion. A practical advantage over earlier semi-analytical approaches is that the new one gives a positive definite conversion field. Sensitivity studies using both idealised and realistic topography allow the identification of suitable numerical parameter settings and corroborate the accuracy of the method. This motivates the application to the global ocean in order to better account for the geographical distribution of diapycnal mixing induced by low-mode internal gravity waves, which can propagate over large distances before breaking. The first results highlight the significant differences of energy flux magnitudes with direction, confirming the relevance of this more detailed approach for energetically consistent mixing parametrisations in ocean models. The method used here should be applicable to any physical system that is described by the standard wave equation with a very wide field of sources.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Global Internal Wave Model IDEMIX Using Finestructure Methods

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 2267-2289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Pollmann ◽  
Carsten Eden ◽  
Dirk Olbers
Keyword(s):  
Internal Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Radiation Balance ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Ocean Models

AbstractSmall-scale turbulent mixing affects large-scale ocean processes such as the global overturning circulation but remains unresolved in ocean models. Since the breaking of internal gravity waves is a major source of this mixing, consistent parameterizations take internal wave energetics into account. The model Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) predicts the internal wave energy, dissipation rates, and diapycnal diffusivities based on a simplification of the spectral radiation balance of the wave field and can be used as a mixing module in global numerical simulations. In this study, it is evaluated against finestructure estimates of turbulent dissipation rates derived from Argo float observations. In addition, a novel method to compute internal gravity wave energy from finescale strain information alone is presented and applied. IDEMIX well reproduces the magnitude and the large-scale variations of the Argo-derived dissipation rate and energy level estimates. Deficiencies arise with respect to the detailed vertical structure or the spatial extent of mixing hot spots. This points toward the need to improve the forcing functions in IDEMIX, both by implementing additional physical detail and by better constraining the processes already included in the model. A prominent example is the energy transfer from the mesoscale eddies to the internal gravity waves, which is identified as an essential contributor to turbulent mixing in idealized simulations but needs to be better understood through the help of numerical, analytical, and observational studies in order to be represented realistically in ocean models.

A conservation law for internal gravity waves

1976 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Milder
Keyword(s):  
Internal Wave ◽  
Group Velocity ◽  
Internal Waves ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Conservation Law ◽  
Short Wavelength ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Volume Integral ◽  
Weak Density ◽  
Progressive Waves

The scaled vorticity Ω/N and strain ∇ ζ associated with internal waves in a weak density gradient of arbitrary depth dependence together comprise a quantity that is conserved in the usual linearized approximation. This quantity I is the volume integral of the dimensionless density DI = ½[Ω2/N2 + (∇ ζ)2]. For progressive waves the ‘kinetic’ and ‘potential’ parts are equal, and in the short-wavelength limit the density DI and flux FI are related by the ordinary group velocity: FI = DIcg. The properties of DI suggest that it may be a useful measure of local internal-wave saturation.

Parametric instability of internal gravity waves

1975 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. McEwan ◽  
R. M. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Internal Wave ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wave Spectrum ◽  
Parametric Instability ◽  
Mathieu Equation ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Preliminary Calculation ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Oceanic Internal Wave

A continuously stratified fluid, when subjected to a weak periodic horizontal acceleration, is shown to be susceptible to a form of parametric instability whose time dependence is described, in its simplest form, by the Mathieu equation. Such an acceleration could be imposed by a large-scale internal wave field. The growth rates of small-scale unstable modes may readily be determined as functions of the forcing-acceleration amplitude and frequency. If any such mode has a natural frequency near to half the forcing frequency, the forcing amplitude required for instability may be limited in smallness only by internal viscous dissipation. Greater amplitudes are required when boundaries constrain the form of the modes, but for a given bounding geometry the most unstable mode and its critical forcing amplitude can be defined.An experiment designed to isolate the instability precisely confirms theoretical predictions, and evidence is given from previous experiments which suggest that its appearance can be the penultimate stage before the traumatic distortion of continuous stratifications under internal wave action.A preliminary calculation, using the Garrett & Munk (197%) oceanic internal wave spectrum, indicates that parametric instability could occur in the ocean at scales down to that of the finest observed microstructure, and may therefore have a significant role to play in its formation.

scholarly journals Interaction Features of Internal Wave Breathers in a Stratified Ocean

Fluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 205
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Didenkulova ◽  
Efim Pelinovsky
Keyword(s):  
Internal Wave ◽  
Internal Waves ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Fourth Order ◽  
Numerical Experiments ◽  
Vries Equation ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Wave Fields ◽  
Tidal Waves ◽  
Stratified Ocean

Oscillating wave packets (breathers) are a significant part of the dynamics of internal gravity waves in a stratified ocean. The formation of these waves can be provoked, in particular, by the decay of long internal tidal waves. Breather interactions can significantly change the dynamics of the wave fields. In the present study, a series of numerical experiments on the interaction of breathers in the frameworks of the etalon equation of internal waves—the modified Korteweg–de Vries equation (mKdV)—were conducted. Wave field extrema, spectra, and statistical moments up to the fourth order were calculated.

Modulation of Internal Gravity Waves in a Multiscale Model for Deep Convection on Mesoscales

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 2504-2519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ruprecht ◽  
Rupert Klein ◽  
Andrew J. Majda
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Closed Model ◽  
Large Scale Flow ◽  
Effective Stability

Abstract Starting from the conservation laws for mass, momentum, and energy together with a three-species bulk microphysics model, a model for the interaction of internal gravity waves and deep convective hot towers is derived using multiscale asymptotic techniques. From the leading-order equations, a closed model for the large-scale flow is obtained analytically by applying horizontal averages conditioned on the small-scale hot towers. No closure approximations are required besides adopting the asymptotic limit regime on which the analysis is based. The resulting model is an extension of the anelastic equations linearized about a constant background flow. Moist processes enter through the area fraction of saturated regions and through two additional dynamic equations describing the coupled evolution of the conditionally averaged small-scale vertical velocity and buoyancy. A two-way coupling between the large-scale dynamics and these small-scale quantities is obtained: moisture reduces the effective stability for the large-scale flow, and microscale up- and downdrafts define a large-scale averaged potential temperature source term. In turn, large-scale vertical velocities induce small-scale potential temperature fluctuations due to the discrepancy in effective stability between saturated and nonsaturated regions. The dispersion relation and group velocity of the system are analyzed and moisture is found to have several effects: (i) it reduces vertical energy transport by waves, (ii) it increases vertical wavenumbers but decreases the slope at which wave packets travel, (iii) it introduces a new lower horizontal cutoff wavenumber in addition to the well-known high wavenumber cutoff, and (iv) moisture can cause critical layers. Numerical examples reveal the effects of moisture on steady-state and time-dependent mountain waves in the present hot-tower regime.

Seasonal modulation of trapped gravity waves and their imprints on trade wind clouds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Stephan
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Trapped Waves ◽  
Convective Boundary

<p>Idealized simulations have shown decades ago that shallow clouds generate internal gravity waves, which under certain atmospheric background conditions become trapped inside the troposphere and influence the development of clouds. These feedbacks, which occur at horizontal scales of up to several tens of km are neither resolved, nor parameterized in traditional global climate models (GCMs), while the newest generation of GCMs is starting to resolve them. The interactions between the convective boundary layer and trapped waves have almost exclusively been studied in highly idealized frameworks and it remains unclear to what degree this coupling affects the organization of clouds and convection in the real atmosphere. Here, the coupling between clouds and trapped waves is examined in storm-resolving simulations that span the entirety of the tropical Atlantic and are initialized and forced by meteorological analyses. The coupling between clouds and trapped waves is sufficiently strong to be detected in these simulations of full complexity.  Stronger upper-tropospheric westerly winds are associated with a stronger cloud-wave coupling. In the simulations this results in a highly-organized scattered cloud field with cloud spacings of about 19 km, matching the dominant trapped wavelength. Based on the large-scale atmospheric state wave theory can reliably predict the regions and times where cloud-wave feedbacks become relevant to convective organization. Theory, the simulations and satellite imagery imply a seasonal cycle in the trapping of gravity waves. </p>

scholarly journals An Energy Compartment Model for Propagation, Nonlinear Interaction, and Dissipation of Internal Gravity Waves

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 2093-2106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Eden ◽  
Dirk Olbers
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Compartment Model ◽  
Tidal Energy ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Wave Interactions ◽  
Dissipation Energy ◽  
Parametric Subharmonic Instability

Abstract The recently proposed Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) model, describing the propagation and dissipation of internal gravity waves in the ocean, is extended. Compartments describing the energy contained in the internal tides and the near-inertial waves at low, vertical wavenumber are added to a compartment of the wave continuum at higher wavenumbers. Conservation equations for each compartment are derived based on integrated versions of the radiative transfer equation of weakly interacting waves. The compartments interact with each other by the scattering of tidal energy to the wave continuum by triad wave–wave interactions, which are strongly enhanced equatorward of 28° due to parametric subharmonic instability of the tide and by scattering to the continuum of both tidal and near-inertial wave energy over rough topography and at continental margins. Global numerical simulations of the resulting model using observed stratification, forcing functions, and bottom topography yield good agreement with available observations.

scholarly journals Inherently unstable internal gravity waves due to resonant harmonic generation

2016 ◽  
Vol 811 ◽  
pp. 400-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Liang ◽  
Ahmad Zareei ◽  
Mohammad-Reza Alam
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Condition ◽  
Internal Wave ◽  
Harmonic Generation ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Free Surface Boundary Condition ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Surface Boundary Condition ◽  
Countably Infinite

Here we show that there exist internal gravity waves that are inherently unstable, that is, they cannot exist in nature for a long time. The instability mechanism is a one-way (irreversible) harmonic-generation resonance that permanently transfers the energy of an internal wave to its higher harmonics. We show that, in fact, there are a countably infinite number of such unstable waves. For the harmonic-generation resonance to take place, the nonlinear terms in the free surface boundary condition play a pivotal role, and the instability does not occur in a linearly stratified fluid if a simplified boundary condition, such as a rigid lid or a linearized boundary condition, is employed. Harmonic-generation resonance presented here provides a mechanism for the transfer of internal wave energy to the higher-frequency part of the spectrum hence affecting, potentially significantly, the evolution of the internal waves spectrum.

An experimental study of the free evolution of rotating, nonlinear internal gravity waves in a two-layer stratified fluid

2014 ◽  
Vol 742 ◽  
pp. 308-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo N. Ulloa ◽  
Alberto de la Fuente ◽  
Yarko Niño
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Kelvin Wave ◽  
Nonlinear Processes ◽  
Transfer Energy ◽  
Type Wave ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Layer Flow

AbstractThe temporal evolution of nonlinear large-scale internal gravity waves, in a two-layer flow affected by background rotation, is studied via laboratory experiments conducted in a cylindrical tank, mounted on a rotating turntable. The internal wave field is excited by the relaxation of an initial forced tilt of the density interface ($\eta _{i}$), which generates internal waves, such as Kelvin and Poincaré waves, in response to rotation effects. The behaviour of $\eta _{i}$, in the shore region, is analysed in terms of the background rotation and the nonlinear steepening of the basin-scale waves. The results show that the degeneration of the fundamental Kelvin wave into a solitary-type wave packet is caused by nonlinear steepening and it is influenced by the background rotation. In addition, the physical scales of the leading solitary-type wave are closer to Korteweg–de Vries theory as the rotation increases. Moreover, the nonlinear interaction between the Kelvin wave and the Poincaré wave can transfer energy to higher or lower frequencies than the frequency of the fundamental Kelvin wave, as a function of the background rotation. In particular, a specific normal mode in the off-shore region could be energized by this interaction. Finally, the bulk decay rate of the fundamental Kelvin wave, $\tau _{dk}$, was investigated. The results exhibit that $\tau _{dk}$ is concordant with the Ekman damping time scale when there is no evidence of steepening in the basin-scale waves. However, as nonlinear processes increase, $\tau _{dk}$ shows a strong decrease. In this context, the nonlinear processes play an important role in the decay of the fundamental Kelvin wave, via the energy radiation to other modes. The results reported demonstrate that the background rotation and nonlinear processes are essential aspects in understanding the degeneration and the decay of large-scale internal gravity waves on enclosed basins.

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