Highly nonlinear internal solitary waves over the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea

Large amplitude internal solitary waves (ISWs) often exhibit highly nonlinear effects and may contribute significantly to mixing and energy transporting in the ocean. We observed highly nonlinear ISWs over the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea (19°35′N, 112°E) in May 2005 during the Wenchang Internal Wave Experiment using in-situ time series data from an array of temperature and salinity sensors, and an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). We summarized the characteristics of the ISWs and compared them with those of existing internal wave theories. Particular attention has been paid to characterizing solitons in terms of the relationship between shape and amplitude-width. Comparison between theoretical prediction and observation results shows that the high nonlinearity of these waves is better represented by the second-order extended Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) theory than the first-order KdV model. These results indicate that the northwestern South China Sea (SCS) is rich in highly nonlinear ISWs that are an indispensable part of the energy budget of the internal waves in the northern South China Sea.     

Propagation of internal waves up continental slope and shelf

In a two-dimensional and linear framework, a transformation was developed to derive eigensolutions of internal waves over a subcritical hyperbolic slope and to approximate the continental slope and shelf. The transformation converts a hyperbolic slope in physical space into a flat bottom in transform space while the governing equations of internal waves remain hyperbolic. The eigensolutions are further used to study the evolution of linear internal waves as it propagates to subcritical continental slope and shelf. The stream function, velocity, and vertical shear of velocity induced by internal wave at the hyperbolic slope are analytically expressed by superposition of the obtained eigensolutions. The velocity and velocity shear increase as the internal wave propagates to a hyperbolic slope. They become very large especially when the slope of internal wave rays approaches the topographic slope, which is consistent with the previous studies.     

Numerical investigation of wake-collapse internal waves generated by a submerged moving body

The state-of-the-art OpenFOAM technology is used to develop a numerical model that can be devoted to numerically investigating wake-collapse internal waves generated by a submerged moving body.The model incorporates body geometry,propeller forcing,and stratification magnitude of seawater.The generation mechanism and wave properties are discussed based on model results.It was found that the generation of the wave and its properties depend greatly on the body speed.Only when that speed exceeds some critical value,between 1.5 and 4.5 m/s,can the moving body generate wake-collapse internal waves,and with increases of this speed,the time of generation advances and wave amplitude increases.The generated wake-collapse internal waves are confirmed to have characteristics of the second baroclinic mode.As the body speed increases,wave amplitude and length increase and its waveform tends to take on a regular sinusoidal shape.For three linearly temperature-stratified profiles examined,the weaker the stratification,the stronger the wake-collapse internal wave.     

Depression and elevation internal solitary waves in a two-layer fluid and their forces on cylindrical piles

Both large amplitude depression and elevation internal solitary waves (ISWs) were observed on the continental shelf of the northwest South China Sea (SCS) during the Wenchang Internal Wave Experiment. In this study, we investigate the characteristics of depression and elevation ISWs based on comparisons between observational results and internal wave theories. It is suggested that the large amplitude depression wave is better represented by the extended Korteweg-de Vries (EKdV) theory than by the KdV model, whereas the large amplitude elevation wave is in better agreement with the KdV equation than with the EKdV theory. Wave-induced forces on a supposed small-diameter cylindrical pile by depression and elevation waves are also estimated using the internal wave theory and Morison formula. The wave-induced force by elevation ISWs is rarely reported in the literature. It is found that the force induced by the elevation wave differs significantly from that by the depression wave, and the elevation wave generally produces greater force on the pile in the lower water column than the depression wave. These results show that ISWs in the study area can present a serious threat to ocean engineering structures, and should not be ignored in the design of oil platforms and ocean operations.     

Scattering process of internal waves propagating over a subcritical strait slope onto a shelf region

The scattering process, which means the redistribution of energy fluy in modenumber space, is analyzed for internal waves propagating from the abyssal ocean onto a subcritical strait slope and then a shelf region. In light of Wunsch＇s work, the waves are analytically expressed as superimposition of eigensolutions distribution of energy flux in the shelf region： one is the ratio of water depth in and the other is the ratio of the slope of the internal tide rays to the topographic energy flux distribution： the energy flux is focused around one modenumber or case, the range of modenumbers where energy flux is distributed is narrow. Two parameters have evident effects on the the shelf region to that in the abyssal ocean slope. Generally, there are two patterns of focused around two modenumbers. In any case, the range of modenumbers where energy flux is distributed is narrow.     

Effects of tidal currents on nonlinear internal solitary waves in the South China Sea

The propagation and fission process of internal solitary waves (ISWs) with amplitudes of about 170 m are simulated in the northeast of the South China Sea (NSCS) by using the generalized Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation under continuous stratification. More attention is paid to the effects of the ebb and flood background currents on the fission process of ISWs. This kind of background current is provided by the composed results simulated in terms of monthly mean baroclinic circulation and barotropic tidal current. It is found that the obtained relation of the number of fission solitons to the water depth and stratification is roughly in accordance with the fission law derived by Djordjevic and Redekopp in 1978; however, there exists obvious difference between the effects of the ebb and flood background currents on the wave-lengths of fission solitons (defined as the distance between two neighboring peaks of ISWs). The difference in nonlinearity coefficient α between the ebb and flood background currents is a main cause for the different wave-lengths of fission solitons.     

Distribution of vertical turbulent mixing parameter caused by internal tidal waves and solitary waves in the South Yellow Sea

Many observations show that in the Yellow Sea internal tidal waves (ITWs) possess the remarkable characteristics of internal Kelvin wave, and in the South Yellow Sea (SYS) the nonlinear evolution of internal tidal waves is one of the mechanisms producing internal solitary waves (ISWs), which is different from the generation mechanism in the case where the semidiurnal tidal current flows over topographic drops. In this paper, the model of internal Kelvin wave with continuous stratification is given, and an elementary numerical study of nonlinear evolution of ITWs is made for the SYS, using the generalized KdV model (GKdV model for short) for a continuous stratified ocean, in which the different effects of background barotropic ebb and flood currents are considered. Moreover, the parameterization of vertical turbulent mixing caused by ITWs and ISWs in the SYS is studied, using a parameterization scheme which was applied to numerical experiments on the breaking of ISWs by Vlasenko and Hutter in 2002. It is found that the vertical turbulent mixing caused by internal waves is very strong within the upper layer with depth less than about 30m, and the vertical turbulent mixing caused by ISWs is stronger than that by ITWs.     

Observation of near-inertial internal waves on the continental slope in the northwestern South China Sea

Based on nearly 3 months of moored acoustic Doppler current profiler records on the continental slope in the northwestern South China Sea(SCS) in 2006,this study examines temporal and vertical characteristics of near-inertial internal waves(NIW).Rotary frequency spectrum indicates that motions in the near-inertial frequency are strongly polarized,with clockwise(CW) energy exceeding counterclockwise(CCW) by about a factor of 10.Wavelet analysis exhibits an energy peak exceeding the 95% confidence level at the frequency of local inertial during the passage of typhoon Xangsane(24 September to 4 October).This elevated near-inertial kinetic energy(NIKE) event possesses about a 4 days delay correlation with the time integral of energy flux induced by typhoon,indicating an energy source of wind.Further analysis shows that the upward phase velocity of this event is 3.8 m h~(-1)approximately,corresponding to a vertical wavelength of about 125 m if not taking the redshift of local inertial frequency into account.Rotary vertical wavenumber spectrum exhibits the dominance of clockwise-with-depth energy,indicating downward energy propagation and implying a surface energy source.Dynamical modes suggest that mode 1 plays a dominant role at the growth stage of NIW,whereas major contribution is from higher modes during the penetration of NIKE into the ocean interior.     

Study on internal waves generated by tidal flow over critical topography

Resonance due to critical slope makes the internal wave generation more effectively than that due to supercritical or subcritical slopes(Zhang et al., 2008). Submarine ridges make a greater contribution to ocean mixing than continental margins in global oceans(Müller, 1977; Bell, 1975; Baines, 1982; Morozov, 1995). In this paper, internal wave generation driven by tidal flow over critical topography is examined in laboratory using Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV) and synthetic schlieren methods in synchrony. Non-tidal baroclinic velocities and vertical isopycnal displacements are observed in three representative regions, i.e., critical, outward-propagating, and reflection regions. Temporal and spatial distributions of internal wave rays are analyzed using the time variations of baroclinic velocities and vertical isopycnal displacement, and the results are consistent with those by the linear internal wave theory. Besides, the width of wave beam changes with the outward propagation of internal waves. Finally, through monitoring the uniformly-spaced 14 vertical profiles in the x-z plane, the internal wave fields of density and velocity fields are constructed. Thus, available potential energy, kinetic energy and energy fluxes are determined quantitatively. The distributions of baroclinic energy and energy fluxes are confined along the internal wave rays. The total depth averaged energy and energy flux of vertical profiles away from a ridge are both larger than those near the ridge.     

A continuously stratified nonlinear model for internal solitary waves in the northern South China Sea

A continuously stratified nonlinear model is set up to study the impact of topographical character on the generation of internal solitary waves over a sill by tidal flow. One of the reasons why almost all of the generated internal solitary waves propagate westward in the northern South China Sea is explained. The model simulations describe the generation and propagation of internal waves well. When the strength of imposed barotropic tides and the water stratification stay unchanged, the steepness of the sill slope can control both (a) whether or not the waves induced over a sill by tidal flow are linear internal waves or nonlinear internal solitary waves, and (b) the amplitude of the internal solitary waves generated. If the steepness of the sill is asymmetric, the nonlinear internal solitary waves may be induced on the steeper side of the sill. These conclusions are supported by a numerical experiment with a monthly-mean stratification and an actual seafloor topography from the Luzon Strait.     

A layered numerical model for simulating the generation and propagation of internal tides over continental slope

A layered three-dimensional nonlinear numerical model was constructed to simulate the generation and propagation of internal tides over the continental slope. The simulation was split into external mode computation (EMC) and internal mode computation (IMC) to minimize the computational load. IMC was carried out once after EMC was implemented N times. As to EMC, a semi-implicit numerical scheme was applied in such a way that the pressure gradient terms and the velocity divergence terms were discretized semi-implicitly, but the other terms were discretized explicitly. Eulerian-Lagrangian explicit discretization was applied to the convective terms simultaneously. As a result, the stability of EMC did not depend on the wave celerity and time step was not limited by the CFL condition. More than that, use of the conjugate gradient accelerated Jacobi method further improved the computational efficiency of the model. Contribution No. 3588 from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Project 49676275 supported by NSFC and National Special Research Program 97-925-05-02.     

An investigation of the properties of low-frequency internal waves in the northeastern China Seas

A simple and practical method for separating low-frequency internal waves from low-frequency barotropic waves was employed to analyze the observation data. Analysis of some data gathered in the northestern China Seas revealed strong semidiurnal internal tides and near-inertial internal waves at the stations in the East China Sea and near-inertial waves but no semidiurnal internal tides at the station in the centre of the Yellow Sea. The geographic properties of low-frequency internal waves in the region are discussed primarily on the basis of the mechanism of internal tide generation on the continental shelfbreak, and the mechanisms of local generation and global generation. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Modification on Lynett and Liu＇s model for internal solitary wave propagation over variable bathymetry

A two-dimensional, depth-integrated model proposed by Lynett and Liu （2002） was checked carefully, and several misprints in the model were corrected after detailed examination on both the theory and the numerical program. Several comparisons were made on wave profile, system energy and maximum wave amplitude. It is noted that the modified model can simulate the propagation of the internal solitary waves over variable bathymetry more reasonably to a certain degree, and the wave profiles obtained based on the modified model can better fit the experiment data reported by Helfrich （1992） than those from original model.     

Study on the propagation velocity of internal solitary waves in the Andaman Sea using Terra/Aqua-MODIS remote sensing images

Journal of Oceanology and Limnology - The Andaman Sea has been a classic study region for internal solitary waves (ISWs) for several decades, and extraordinarily large ISWs are characteristic of...     

PROGRESS OF STUDIES ON THE INTERNAL TIDE GENERATED BY THE PASSAGE OF BAROTROPIC TIDE OVER CONTINENTAL SHELF/SLOPE

Various aspects of studies on internal tides are reviewed .Both beam-like structure and modal structure of internal tides may exist in the ocean . Bottom intensifications are caused by many factors .e.g. upstream blocking , which is the result of nonlinear interaction among waves . The energy may decay very fast so that internal tides are mostly locally generated .Internal tides may have considerable residual currents.In a 3-D frame, numerical study revealed that internal waves may interfere with each other to cause strong motions fer from the generation sources.The mechanism that determines how the lee waves break to form various nonlinear waves such as solitary waves, hydraulic jumps and internal surges or bores remains unclear. Analytic study is difficult , so numerical method may be effective . A radiation condition on the open boundary must be employed. A complete 3-D model may gain interesting result.Study on internal tides in China is limited to field observations and data analysis .     

A layered numerical model for simulating the generation and propagation of internal tides over continental slope II stability analysis

INTRODUCTIONAsoneofthemethodsenablingnumericalsolutionofdifferentialequations,thefinite differ encemethodiswidelyacceptedinthestudyofphysicaloceanography.Afinite differenceschememusthavepropertiesofconvergence ,consistencyandstabilitytoyieldusefulapproximatesolutionoftherelevantdifferentialequations.However,thepropertiesneednotbeverifiedonebyonebecausethewell knownLaxLawassuresthattheconvergenceisequivalenttothestabilityforafinitediffer enceschemewithconsistence .Twomainmethodsforstudyin…     

Response of internal waves to 2005 Typhoon Damrey over the northwestern shelf of the South China Sea

Continuous observation of sea water temperature and current was made at Wenchang Station (19°35′N, 112°E) in 2005. The data collected indicate vigorous internal waves of both short periods and tidal and near-inertial periods. The temperature and current time series during 18-30 September were examined to describe the upper ocean internal wave field response to Typhoon Damrey (0518). The strong wind associated with the typhoon, which passed over the sea area about 45 km south of Wenchang Sta- tion on 25 September, deepened the mixed layer depth remarkably. It decreased the mixed layer temperature while increasing the deep layer temperature, and intensified the near-inertial and high-frequency fluctuations of temperature and current. Power spectra of temperature and current time series indicate significant deviations from those obtained by using the deep ocean internal wave models characterized by a power law. The frequency spectra were dominated by three energetic bands: around the inertial frequency (7.75× 10-6 Hz), tidal frequencies (1.010-25 to 2.4×10-5 Hz), and between 1.4×10-4 and 8.3 × 10-4 Hz. Dividing the field data into three phases (before, during and after the typhoon), we found that the typhoon enhanced the kinetic energy in nearly all the frequency bands, es- pecially in the surface water. The passage of Damrey made a major contribution to the horizontal kinetic energy of the total surface current variances. The vertical energy density distribution, with its peak value at the surface, was an indication that the energy in- jected by the strong wind into the surface current could penetrate downward to the thermocline.