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Experimental study of internal waves over a slope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

David Cacchione  and
Carl Wunsch
David Cacchione
Affiliation:
Office of Naval Research, 495 Summer Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02210
Carl Wunsch
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
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Abstract

Internal waves of the fundamental mode propagating into a shoaling region have been studied experimentally in a continuously stratified fluid. The waves divide into three classes depending upon the ratio of the bottom slope γ to the wave-characteristic slope c. For γ/c < 1, the amplitude and wavenumber changes of the waves over the slope are in reasonable accord with a simple inviscid linear theory, prior to wave breakdown near the intersection of the slope and surface. Considerable mixing occurs in this corner region. When γ/c = 1, a striking instability of the bottom boundary layer is observed and the waves are heavily damped. When γ/c > 1, the waves are inhomogeneous and have complex spatial dependence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , 6 November 1974 , pp. 223 - 239
Copyright
© 1974 Cambridge University Press

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