Laboratory modeling of the propagation of periodic internal waves over bottom slopes

The experimental investigation of the run-up of periodic internal waves in a two-layer fluid on the coastal slope is performed in an open hydrochannel at the Physical Department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The waves are produced by a wave generator. We study the transformation of waves, the vertical structure of the field of velocities of mass transfer, and the behavior of the parameters of internal waves propagating over the sloping bottom. It is shown that the run-up and breaking of internal waves are accompanied by periodic emissions of portions of the heavier fluid from the bottom layer upward along the slope. The Stokes drift velocity changes its sign as a function of depth. Moreover, both the wave length (the horizontal distance between the neighboring crests) and the height of waves over the sloping bottom (the elevation of the crest over the slope along the vertical) decrease as the wave approaches the coast.     

Breaking of a tidal internal wave on a steep shelf as inferred from temperature measurements

The structure, evolution, and breaking of a tidal internal wave on a steep shelf are discussed on the basis of the data of temperature measurements. The bottom slope at the measurement site is close to the critical slope for a tidal wave. The tidal wave and other waves are inclined coastward. The tidal-wave amplitude increases monotonically with increasing horizon depth. The tidal wave is nonlinear in amplitude and turns over on the outer shelf. On the inner shelf, the internal wave is close in shape to rectangular and generates harmonics of its own. The harmonics make the tidal wave steeper and form solitary rises similar to bilateral bores. All these features ensure a more rapid sink for the internal-tide energy.     

Numerical analysis of the transformation of tsunami waves in the south crimea shelf area

The paper analyses the transformation of tsunami-type solitary waves, propagating from the abyssal part of the Black Sea towards its shelf zone. The study is performed by solving numerically unidimensional non-linear equations for non-dispersive long waves, using the finite-difference slope and shelf, with the full wave reflection prescribed at a 10 m depth contour. The non-linearity of the process is shown to throughly impact the reflection of waves by the shore and the shape of the reflected wave. Tsunami wave heights have been seen to increase by several times in the Black sea shelf area. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

分层流体中内孤立波在潜浮式竖直薄板上透射和反射

采用边缘层理论研究了两层流体系统中内孤立波在潜浮式竖直薄板上的透射和反射问题,提出了非线性演化方程的“初值”条件,分析了内孤立波与薄板非线性相互作用的效应。研究表明:流体层的密度比以及薄板伸入上下层的深度对于反射和透射波结构具有显著的影响,薄板伸入下层越深、密度差越小,则薄板阻碍孤立波透射的效率越高;透射波通常演化为单峰孤立波和迅速衰减的尾波,反射波演化为缓慢衰减的尾波列;对于具有小密度差的跃层结构,内孤立波在潜浮式竖直薄板上的透射及其演化近乎是无障碍的。     

Generation of internal waves by a barotropic tide in the coastal zone

Within the framework of the linear theory of long waves, we study internal waves generated by a barotropic tide in a two-layer ocean of variable depth taking into account the influence of the Coriolis force. Barotropic waves run over an extended unevenness of the bottom at an arbitrary angle. This unevenness is regarded as a model of the continental slope and shelf. We establish the dependences of the amplitudes of generated internal waves on the angle of incidence of the barotropic tide, topography of the bottom, and stratification. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Reflection of long internal waves of small amplitudes from an underwater slope

The dynamics of long waves in the vicinity of a transition point of a two-layer flow into a single-layer one is studied within the linear theory of shallow water. The analogy between this problem and the classical problem of surface wave runup on the shore is shown. Conditions for breaking internal waves on a slope are discussed.     

The effects of a porous-elastic seabed on interfacial wave propagation

A theoretical model for the decay of progressive interfacial gravity waves propagating above a porous bed is developed assuming potential flow in a two-layer system with a free surface and a sharp interface. A new wave dispersion relation for two-layer flow above a quasi-static porous seabed is derived and investigated. The solutions for the nonlinear wave profile are derived using a perturbation method and the effects of geometric and flow parameters including bed characteristics, depth ratios and the densities of the two fluids are studied and discussed. Comparisons with existing analytical solutions for viscous interfacial wave attenuation over a rigid bed demonstrate the relative importance of the porous bed as a mechanism for wave decay. It is shown that the influence of a porous seabed on wave propagation is significant when the depth of the lower layer, normalised by the wavenumber, is less than π.     

Green functions with pulsating sources in a two-layer fluid of finite depth

The derivation of Green function in a two-layer fluid model has been treated in different ways.In a two-layer fluid with the upper layer having a free surface,there exist two modes of waves propagating due to the free surface and the interface.This paper is concerned with the derivation of Green functions in the three dimensional case of a stationary source oscillating.The source point is located either in the upper or lower part of a two-layer fluid of finite depth.The derivation is carried out by the method of singularities.This method has an advantage in that it involves representing the potential as a sum of singularities or multipoles placed within any structures being present.Furthermore,experience shows that the systems of equations resulted from using a singularity method possess excellent convergence characteristics and only a few equations are needed to obtain accurate numerical results.Validation is done by showing that the derived two-layer Green function can be reduced to that of a single layer of finite depth or that the upper Green function coincides with that of the lower,for each case.The effect of the density on the internal waves is demonstrated.Also,it is shown how the surface and internal wave amplitudes are compared for both the wave modes.The fluid in this case is considered to be inviscid and incompressible and the flow is irrotational.     

Oceanic pycnocline depth retrieval from SAR imagery in the existence of solitary internal waves

Oceanic pycnocline depth is usually inferred from in situ measurements. It is attempted to estimate the depth remotely. As solitary internal waves occur on oceanic pycnocline and propagate along it, it is possible to retrieve the depth indirectly in virtue of the solitary internal waves. A numerical model is presented for retrieving the pycnocline depth from synthetic aperture radar （SAR） images where the solitary internal waves are visible and when ocean waters are fully stratified. This numerical model is constructed by combining the solitary internal wave model and a two-layer ocean model. It is also assumed that the observed groups of solitary internal wave packets on the SAR imagery are generated by local semidiurnal tides. A case study in the East China Sea shows a good agreement with in situ CTD （conductivity-temperature-depth） data.     

Internal bores in two-layer exchange flows over sills

Internal bores are a common feature of tidally modulated two-layer exchange flows through straits and over sills. Even where the forcing changes smoothly, the flow may adjust with sudden jumps in the position of the interface between the two layers. The resulting flow configuration, with a hydraulically controlled exchange flow (at the sill) coupled with a propagating internal hydraulic jump (known as a bore), is investigated with mathematical models and laboratory experiments. The study concentrates on two-dimensional flow in a rectangular channel with a sill. The parameters considered are the depth of the channel compared to the depth over the sill, the depth of the interface before the passage of the bore and the strength of the net flux through the channel.The theory is based on shallow water equations and hydraulic control theory and includes the effects of a steady net flow through the channel (driven, for example, by the tide). Once the depth of the channel is twice the depth over the sill, further changes in geometry have relatively little effect on the flow. The bore velocity and fluxes are strongly affected by the strength of any net flow. The laboratory experiments model pure exchange flows (with no net flow) and give detailed information about the bores themselves. In many cases an undular bore is produced, with a well-defined wave train on the interface behind the front of the bore. The wavelengths and amplitudes of these internal waves are quantified and a brief comparison with similar internal waves observed in the Strait of Gibraltar is presented.     

Effects of longshore shelf variations on barotropic continental shelf waves,slope currents and ocean modes

Effects of continental shelf bends, converging depth contours and changing depth profiles are discussed. Some analysis is carried out for previously unstudied cases. Separate oceanic interior and shelf flow problems are formulated for a sufficiently narrow shelf. The ocean interior ‘sees’ only an integrated shelf effect, typically increasing shelf-edge amplitudes, retarding longshore Kelvin-wave propagation and increasing natural mode periods by 0 (10%). On the local shelf, the flow matches to the ocean interior and is nondivergent. Effects on shelf waves and slope currents depend subtly on the nature of the longshore variations. Curvature and contour convergence do not per se imply scaterring or generation of shelf waves. Indeed, any depth h(ξ) where ▽² ξ(x,y) = 0 (a condition approximating longshelf uniformity in the topography's convexity) supports essentially the same shelf waves as do straight depth contours (DAVIS, 1983), and slope currents follow depth contours. Scattering results rather from breaks in analyticity of the depth profile. Hence calculations for small isolated features (necessarily highly convex or concave) may overestimate scattering, and superposition for realistic topography may lead to much self-cancellation among scattered waves. Otherwise, examples show a strong preference for scattering into adjacent mode numbers and into any shelf wave mode near to its maximum frequency. A shelf sector, where the maximum shelf wave frequency maxω is less than the frequency ω of an incident shelf wave, causes substantial scattering unless maxω and ω are very close. Adjustment of slope currents to changed conditions takes place through (and over the decay distance of) scattered shelf waves.     

Effect of stratification on long period trapped waves on the shelf

The effect of stratification on very long-period waves trapped on a straight continental shelf of constant depth is examined for a two-layer model. There are 4 modes in this system. The characteristics of the mode with the largest phase velocity can be approximated by the barotropic mode. The mode corresponding to the barotropic shelf-wave mode is modified by the baroclinic motions significantly, and in the limit of very narrow shelf width, the mode characteristics are transformed from those of the barotropic shelf-wave to the baroclinic Kelvin wave if the long-shore wave length is larger than the internal deformation radius. In this case, the stratification has an apparent effect of increasing phase velocity of barotropic shelf-waves. The remaining two modes are dominated by baroclinic motions with significant contribution from barotropic motions: among which the one has a shelf-wave characteristics for small values of the shelf width and approaches the mode corresponding to the baroclinic Kelvin wave in shallower water for large shelf width and the other is a stationary mode. If the long-shore wave length is much shorter than the internal deformation radius, the motions in the upper and lower layers are decoupled: the surface and bottom modes analogous to those discussed byRhines (1970) appears.If the interface is deeper than the shelf depth, the stationary mode is absent and the characteristics of the third mode approaches those of the baroclinic double Kelvin wave mode as the shelf width increases.     

The generation of internal waves by the barotropic tide at an oceanic ridge

The generation of internal waves by the barotropic tide in a two-layer ocean of variable depth is studied within the framework of the linear theory of long waves in view of the Coriolis force. The relationships between the internal wave amplitude, the angle of climb of the barotropic tide, and the bottom elevation geometry are studied.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Internal Wave Generation by Tidal Flow over a Continental Shelf Slope

The generation process of internal waves by strong tidal flow over a continental shelf slope is reproduced using a multi-level numerical model. On the basis of the numerical results, the crucial role of the tidal advection effect in the generation process of internal waves is demonstrated. The close relation between the resulting internal waveform and the strength of the tidal advection effect is also examined. The barotropic forcing on the internal wave actually works within a relatively small horizontal scale over the top of the continental shelf slope. When the maximum internal Froude number at the shelf break (Fr_m) is less than about 0.6, the amplitude of the resulting internal wave is almost proportional to F_rm. When F_rm is more than about 0.6, however, the amplitude of the resulting internal wave becomes larger than predicted by linear theory. In particular, when F_rm is more than unity, the time period during which the shoreward propagating internal wave stays in the barotropic forcing region becomes much longer. Consequently, the internal wave is significantly amplified with the horizontal scale approaching that of the barotropic forcing, which concentrates in a relatively small region over the top of the continental shelf slope. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Accurate determination of internal kinematics from numerical wave model results

The internal kinematics for surface waves propagating over a locally constant depth are expressed as convolution integrals. Given the wave kinematics at the still water level (SWL), this provides explicit and exact potential flow expressions for the internal kinematics as convolutions in space with appropriate impulse response functions. These functions are derived in closed form and they are shown to decay exponentially. This effectively reduces the limits of the convolution integral to a horizontal distance of approximately three water depths from the water column of interest. The SWL kinematics must be provided within this region. The source of SWL kinematics may, e.g. be one of the recently developed highly accurate Boussinesq-type formulations. The method is valid for multidirectional, irregular waves of arbitrary nonlinearity at any constant water depth.     

Hydroelastic interaction between obliquely incident waves and a semi-infinite elastic plate on a two-layer fluid

The hydroelastic response of a semi-infinite thin elastic plate floating on a two-layer fluid of finite depth due to obliquely incident waves is investigated. The upper and lower fluids with different densities separated by a sharp and stable interface are assumed to be inviscid and incompressible and the motion to be irrotational. Simply time-harmonic incident waves of the surface and interfacial wave modes with a given angular frequency are considered within the framework of linear potential flow theory. With the aid of the methods of matched eigenfunction expansion and the inner product of the two-layer fluid, a closed system of simultaneous linear equations is derived for the reflection and transmission coefficients of the series solutions. Based on the dispersion relations for the gravity waves and the flexural–gravity waves in a two-layer fluid and Snell’s law for refraction, we obtain a critical angle for the incident waves of the surface wave mode and three critical angles for the incident waves of the interfacial wave mode, which are related to the existence of the propagating waves. Graphical representations of the series solutions show the interaction between the water waves and the plate. The effects of several physical parameters, including the density and depth ratios of the fluid and the thickness of the plate, on the wave scattering and the hydroelastic response of the plate are studied. It is found that the variation of the thickness of the plate may change the wave numbers and the critical angles. The density ratio is the main factor to influence the wave numbers of the interfacial wave modes. Finally, the stress state is considered.     

Coastal trapped waves in a two-layer ocean: Wave properties when the density interface intersects a sloping bottom

Properties of coastal trapped waves when the pycnocline intersects a sloping bottom are studied using a two-layer model which has slopes in both layers. In this system there is an infinite discrete sequence of modes, and four different sorts of waves exist: the barotropic Kelvin wave, the upper shelf wave, the lower shelf wave and the internal Kelvin-type wave. They all propagate with the coast to their right in the Northern Hemisphere. The upper and lower shelf waves are due to the topographic-effect on the upper-layer and lower-layer slopes, respectively. Their motions are dominant in the respective layers being accompanied by significant interface elevations. The properties of the upper (lower) shelf wave are almost unaffected by the existence of a lower-layer (upper-layer) slope. The motion of the internal Kelvin-type wave is confined to the region around the line where the density interface intersects the bottom slope.The modes, except that with the fastest phase speed (the barotropic Kelvin wave), are assigned mode numbers in order of descending frequency. Characteristics of Mode 1 change with wavenumber; the upper shelf wave for small wavenumbers and the internal Kelvin-type wave for large wavenumbers (high frequencies). The higher modes of Mode 2 and above can be classified into the upper and lower shelf waves.     

The generation of internal waves by the diurnal barotropic tide in the area of extensive irregularity of the bottom topography

The generation of internal waves by the barotropic tide in a two-layer ocean of variable depth is studied within the framework of the linear theory of long waves in view of the Coriolis force. A barotropic wave climbs at an arbitrary angle to the axis of the extensive ridge with constantly varying profile. The relationships between the amplitudes of the generated internal waves, the location of the ridge, and the angle of climb of the barotropic tide are studied. The analogous research is given in refs 1 and 2.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov. UDK 532.59.     

Far fields of internal gravity waves in a stratified liquid of varying depth

Asymptotic representations of solutions describing the far fields of internal gravity waves in a stratified medium of varying depth are constructed. The effect of space-frequency cutoff of the wave field for a real oceanic shelf is revealed. Depending on frequency characteristics of the wave field and bottom topography, far fields of internal waves either are located in a certain confined space domain (trapped waves) or propagate in the absence of turning points over sufficiently large distances when compared with the sea depth (progressive waves). The space domain where the progressive waves penetrate is fully determined by the presence of turning points whose locations depend on the medium stratification and inhomogeneities of bottom topography.     

Onset of coastal upwelling in a two-layer ocean by wind stress with longshore variation

On the assumption that motions of the barotropic mode are horizontally nondivergent, action of the wind stress with longshore variation on a two-layer ocean adjacent to the meridional east coast is studied. Only the equatorward wind stress is considered. Along the east coast, upwelling is induced by the direct effect of the coast and is confined in a narrow strip with the width of the order of the internal radius of deformation. The upwelling propagates poleward with the internal gravity wave speed. Coastal upwelling induced by the wind stress with longshore variation may be interpreted as the generation and propagation of internal Kelvin waves. Associated with the coastal upwelling, the equatorward flow in the upper layer and the poleward flow in the lower layer are formed as an internal mode of motions. When the bottom topography with the continental shelf and slope is taken into account, occurrence of the poleward undercurrent is delayed by a few days because of the generation of continental shelf waves. And, after the forcing is stopped, the shelf waves propagate poleward away from the upwelling region and the poleward undercurrent fully develops. At the margin of the continental shelf, another upwelling region is induced and propagates poleward.