Unstable modes of a sheared pycnocline above a stratified layer |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Protein Processing Section, Structural Biophysics Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA;2. Linganore High School, Frederick, MD 21701, USA;1. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;2. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar System Exploration Division (690.0), 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA;4. Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, M/S 183-501, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA;5. British Astronomical Association, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0DU, U.K.;6. University of Michigan, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, Space Research Building, 2455 Hayward St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA;7. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Physics Department, Workman Center 345, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801, USA;8. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA;9. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
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| Abstract: | Internal waves incident on a sheared ocean pycnocline are studied using analytic and numerical methods. Linear analysis of the unstable modes of a sheared ocean pycnocline is used to demonstrate interactions between internal waves and shear instabilities. A new analytic solution for an asymmetric shear layer over a stratified layer is presented, illustrating modes which couple to internal waves, in addition to the well-known Holmboe modes. The robustness of these solutions is demonstrated using numerical methods for realistic shear profiles. Fully nonlinear numerical simulations illustrate the growth of these modes and demonstrate the excitation of shear instabilities by incident internal waves. The results may have implications for internal wave interactions with the ocean pycnocline and the local generation of internal solitary waves. |
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