scholarly journals The Unpredictable Nature of Internal Tides on Continental Shelves

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 1981-2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Nash ◽  
Samuel M. Kelly ◽  
Emily L. Shroyer ◽  
James N. Moum ◽  
Timothy F. Duda
Keyword(s):  
Neap Tide ◽  
Spring Tide ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Shelf Break ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Barotropic Tide ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
The Waves ◽  
Counterintuitive Result

Abstract Packets of nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) in a small area of the Mid-Atlantic Bight were 10 times more energetic during a local neap tide than during the preceding spring tide. This counterintuitive result cannot be explained if the waves are generated near the shelf break by the local barotropic tide since changes in shelfbreak stratification explain only a small fraction of the variability in barotropic to baroclinic conversion. Instead, this study suggests that the occurrence of strong NLIWs was caused by the shoaling of distantly generated internal tides with amplitudes that are uncorrelated with the local spring-neap cycle. An extensive set of moored observations show that NLIWs are correlated with the internal tide but uncorrelated with barotropic tide. Using harmonic analysis of a 40-day record, this study associates steady-phase motions at the shelf break with waves generated by the local barotropic tide and variable-phase motions with the shoaling of distantly generated internal tides. The dual sources of internal tide energy (local or remote) mean that shelf internal tides and NLIWs will be predictable with a local model only if the locally generated internal tides are significantly stronger than shoaling internal tides. Since the depth-integrated internal tide energy in the open ocean can greatly exceed that on the shelf, it is likely that shoaling internal tides control the energetics on shelves that are directly exposed to the open ocean.

scholarly journals Global Observations of Open-Ocean Mode-1 M2 Internal Tides

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1657-1684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongxiang Zhao ◽  
Matthew H. Alford ◽  
James B. Girton ◽  
Luc Rainville ◽  
Harper L. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Energy Loss ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Tidal Waves ◽  
Topographic Features ◽  
Midocean Ridges ◽  
The Pacific

AbstractA global map of open-ocean mode-1 M2 internal tides is constructed using sea surface height (SSH) measurements from multiple satellite altimeters during 1992–2012, representing a 20-yr coherent internal tide field. A two-dimensional plane wave fit method is employed to 1) suppress mesoscale contamination by extracting internal tides with both spatial and temporal coherence and 2) separately resolve multiple internal tidal waves. Global maps of amplitude, phase, energy, and flux of mode-1 M2 internal tides are presented. The M2 internal tides are mainly generated over topographic features, including continental slopes, midocean ridges, and seamounts. Internal tidal beams of 100–300 km width are observed to propagate hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Multiwave interference of some degree is widespread because of the M2 internal tide’s numerous generation sites and long-range propagation. The M2 internal tide propagates across the critical latitudes for parametric subharmonic instability (28.8°S/N) with little energy loss, consistent with the 2006 Internal Waves across the Pacific (IWAP) field measurements. In the eastern Pacific Ocean, the M2 internal tide loses significant energy in propagating across the equator; in contrast, little energy loss is observed in the equatorial zones of the Atlantic, Indian, and western Pacific Oceans. Global integration of the satellite observations yields a total energy of 36 PJ (1 PJ = 1015 J) for all the coherent mode-1 M2 internal tides. Finally, satellite observed M2 internal tides compare favorably with field mooring measurements and a global eddy-resolving numerical model.

Internal tide generation due to topographically adjusted barotropic tide

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Papoutsellis ◽  
Matthieu Mercier ◽  
Nicolas Grisouard
Keyword(s):  
Energy Flux ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Boussinesq Approximation ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Field Energy ◽  
Barotropic Tide ◽  
Good Convergence ◽  
Ambient Flow ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Variable Topography

<p>We model internal tides generated by the interaction of a barotropic tide with variable topography. For the barotropic part, an asymptotic solution valid over the variable topography is considered. The resulting non-uniform ambient flow is used as a prescribed barotropic forcing for the baroclinic equations (linearized, non-hydrostatic, Euler equations within the Boussinesq approximation).</p><p>The internal-tide generation problem is reformulated by means of a Coupled-Mode System (CMS) based on the decomposition of the baroclinic stream function in terms of vertical basis functions that consistently satisfy the bottom boundary condition. The proposed CMS is solved numerically with a finite difference scheme and shows good convergence properties, providing efficient calculations of internal tides due to 2D topographies of arbitrary height and slope. We consider several seamounts and shelf profiles and perform calculations for a wide range of heights and slopes. Our results are compared against existing analytical estimates on the far-field energy flux in order to examine the limit of validity of common simplifications (Weak Topography Approximation, Knife edge). For subcritical cases, local extrema of the energy flux exist for different heights. Non-radiating topographies are also identified for some profiles of large enough heights. For supercritical cases, the energy flux is in general an increasing function with increasing height and criticality, and does not compare well against analytical results for very steep idealized topographies. The effect of the adjusted barotropic tide in the energy flux and the local properties of the baroclinic field is investigated through comparisons with other semi-analytical methods based on a uniform barotropic tide (Green’s function approach).  A method for estimating the sea-surface signature of internal tides is also provided.</p>

Scattering of internal tide energy to super-tidal frequencies in global HYCOM 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Solano ◽  
Maarten Buijsman
Keyword(s):  
Internal Tide ◽  
Tidal Energy ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Numerical Dispersion ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Wave Interactions ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
Lee Wave ◽  
Ocean Models

<p>Energy decay in realistically forced global ocean models has been mostly studied in the diurnal and semi-diurnal tidal bands and it is unclear how much of the tidal energy in these bands is scattered to higher frequencies. Global ocean models and satellite altimetry have shown that low-mode internal tides can propagate thousands of kilometers from their generation sites before being dissipated in the ocean interior but their pathway to dissipation is obscured due to lee-wave breaking at generation, wave-wave interactions, topographic scattering, shearing instabilities and shoaling on continental shelves. Internal tides from some generation sites, such as the Amazon shelf and the Nicobar and Andaman island chain, have large amounts of energy resulting in a steepening of the internal waves into solitary wave trains due to non-hydrostatic dispersion. In HYCOM, a hydrostatic model, this process is partially simulated by numerical dispersion. However, it is yet unknown how the dissipation of internal tides is affected by the numerical dispersion in hydrostatic models. In this study we use the method of vertical modes and rotary spectra to quantify the scattering of internal tides to higher-frequencies and analyze the dissipation processes in global HYCOM simulations with 4-km horizontal resolution.</p>

Topographic Form Drag on Tides and Low-Frequency Flow: Observations of Nonlinear Lee Waves over a Tall Submarine Ridge near Palau

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1489-1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Voet ◽  
Matthew H. Alford ◽  
Jennifer A. MacKinnon ◽  
Jonathan D. Nash
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Neap Tide ◽  
Spring Tide ◽  
Tidal Flow ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Submarine Ridge ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Waves

AbstractTowed shipboard and moored observations show internal gravity waves over a tall, supercritical submarine ridge that reaches to 1000 m below the ocean surface in the tropical western Pacific north of Palau. The lee-wave or topographic Froude number, Nh0/U0 (where N is the buoyancy frequency, h0 the ridge height, and U0 the farfield velocity), ranged between 25 and 140. The waves were generated by a superposition of tidal and low-frequency flows and thus had two distinct energy sources with combined amplitudes of up to 0.2 m s−1. Local breaking of the waves led to enhanced rates of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy reaching above 10−6 W kg−1 in the lee of the ridge near topography. Turbulence observations showed a stark contrast between conditions at spring and neap tide. During spring tide, when the tidal flow dominated, turbulence was approximately equally distributed around both sides of the ridge. During neap tide, when the mean flow dominated over tidal oscillations, turbulence was mostly observed on the downstream side of the ridge relative to the mean flow. The drag exerted by the ridge on the flow, estimated to for individual ridge crossings, and the associated power loss, thus provide an energy sink both for the low-frequency ocean circulation and the tidal flow.

scholarly journals A Coupled-Mode Shallow-Water Model for Tidal Analysis: Internal Tide Reflection and Refraction by the Gulf Stream

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 3661-3679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel M. Kelly ◽  
Pierre F. J. Lermusiaux ◽  
Timothy F. Duda ◽  
Patrick J. Haley
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Shelf Break ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Energy Fluxes ◽  
Coupled Mode

AbstractA hydrostatic, coupled-mode, shallow-water model (CSW) is described and used to diagnose and simulate tidal dynamics in the greater Mid-Atlantic Bight region. The reduced-physics model incorporates realistic stratification and topography, internal tide forcing from a priori estimates of the surface tide, and advection terms that describe first-order interactions of internal tides with slowly varying mean flow and mean buoyancy fields and their respective shear. The model is validated via comparisons with semianalytic models and nonlinear primitive equation models in several idealized and realistic simulations that include internal tide interactions with topography and mean flows. Then, 24 simulations of internal tide generation and propagation in the greater Mid-Atlantic Bight region are used to diagnose significant internal tide interactions with the Gulf Stream. The simulations indicate that locally generated mode-one internal tides refract and/or reflect at the Gulf Stream. The redirected internal tides often reappear at the shelf break, where their onshore energy fluxes are intermittent (i.e., noncoherent with surface tide) because meanders in the Gulf Stream alter their precise location, phase, and amplitude. These results provide an explanation for anomalous onshore energy fluxes that were previously observed at the New Jersey shelf break and linked to the irregular generation of nonlinear internal waves.

scholarly journals Baroclinic Energy Flux at the Hawaiian Ridge: Observations from the R/P FLIP

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1104-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Rainville ◽  
Robert Pinkel
Keyword(s):  
Internal Waves ◽  
Energy Flux ◽  
Neap Tide ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Field Site ◽  
Energy Fluxes ◽  
Barotropic Tide ◽  
Research Platform ◽  
Channel Beam ◽  
Made In

Abstract Estimates of baroclinic energy flux are made in the immediate “Nearfield” (September–October 2002) and 450 km offshore (“Farfield”; October–November 2001) of the Kaena Ridge, an active barotropic-to-baroclinic conversion site. The flux estimates are based on repeated profiles of velocity and density obtained from the Research Platform Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) as an aspect of the Hawaii Ocean Mixing Experiment. Energetic beams associated with both semidiurnal and diurnal internal waves are observed in the Kauai Channel. Beam depths and orientations are consistent with generation along the upper flanks of the ridge. At the far-field site, the baroclinic energy flux is borne primarily by first-mode semidiurnal waves. The energy flux associated with the entire spectrum of internal waves is computed by cross-spectral analysis. Significant energy fluxes are found in the inertial, diurnal, semidiurnal, and twice-semidiurnal frequency bands. The semidiurnal energy flux strongly dominates the spectrum at both sites. The flux magnitude follows the spring–neap cycle of the semidiurnal barotropic tide. The averaged depth-integrated mode-1 semidiurnal energy flux (over the entire water column) in the Farfield is found to be 1.7 ± 0.3 kW m−1 away from the ridge, with peak values up to 4 kW m−1. Small fluxes toward the ridge are occasionally seen at neap tide. At both sites, energy fluxes in the diurnal frequency band represent 15%–20% of the semidiurnal energy flux. In the Farfield, the magnitude of the diurnal energy flux varies in accord with the fortnightly cycle of the barotropic semidiurnal tide, rather than with the diurnal forcing, suggesting that energy for those waves is supplied by a cross-frequency transfer from the low-vertical-mode M2 internal tide to higher-mode internal waves at frequencies ½M2. In the Nearfield, the diurnal flux varies with fluctuations in both diurnal and semidiurnal forcing.

Observations of Internal Tides on the Oregon Continental Slope

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 1772-1794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim I. Martini ◽  
Matthew H. Alford ◽  
Eric Kunze ◽  
Samuel M. Kelly ◽  
Jonathan D. Nash
Keyword(s):  
Continental Slope ◽  
Energy Flux ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spring Tide ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Energy Fluxes ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Three Dimensional Model

Abstract A complex superposition of locally forced and shoaling remotely generated semidiurnal internal tides occurs on the Oregon continental slope. Presented here are observations from a zonal line of five profiling moorings deployed across the continental slope from 500 to 3000 m, a 24-h expendable current profiler (XCP) survey, and five 15–48-h lowered ADCP (LADCP)/CTD stations. The 40-day moored deployment spans three spring and two neap tides, during which the proportions of the locally and remotely forced internal tides vary. Baroclinic signals are strong throughout spring and neap tides, with 4–5-day-long bursts of strong cross-slope baroclinic semidiurnal velocity and vertical displacement . Energy fluxes exhibit complex spatial and temporal patterns throughout both tidal periods. During spring tides, local barotropic forcing is strongest and energy flux over the slope is predominantly offshore (westward). During neap tides, shoaling remotely generated internal tides dominate and energy flux is predominantly onshore (eastward). Shoaling internal tides do not exhibit a strong spring–neap cycle and are also observed during the first spring tide, indicating that they originate from multiple sources. The bulk of the remotely generated internal tide is hypothesized to be generated from south of the array (e.g., Mendocino Escarpment), because energy fluxes at the deep mooring 100 km offshore are always directed northward. However, fluxes on the slope suggest that the northbound internal tide is turned onshore, most likely by reflection from large-scale bathymetry. This is verified with a simple three-dimensional model of mode-1 internal tides propagating obliquely onto a near-critical slope, whose output conforms fairly well to observations, in spite of its simplicity.

Semidiurnal internal tides in eastern Bass Strait

1983 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
ISF Jones ◽  
L Padman
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Shelf Break ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
Measurement Site ◽  
Internal Motions

Variations in the vertical thermal structure near the shelf break in eastern Bass Strait have been observed for a 1-year period during 1980-1981. For the periods when the water column was stratified, energetic oscillations of the thermocline were frequently observed, these being well correlated with the surface tide. A peak occurred at the semidiurnal frequency in approximately half of the spectra, each constructed from 4 days of thermistor records. The amplitude of this internal tide was up to 40 m from crest to trough in February 1981. The internal tide lagged the surface tide by 0-6 h in the five records analysed for phase. This, together with the consistency of phase in longer records, supports the proposal that these internal -motions were due to forcing not far from the site of observation. It is suggested that to popographic forcing can be scaled on the parameter h-2 δh/δx, where h is water depth and x is measured perpendicular to the isobaths, and a map of this parameter shows a line of strong generation near the 100-m isobath, about 10 km from our measurement site.

Climatology of internal tides at a shelf-break location on the Australian North West Shelf

1988 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PE Hollaway
Keyword(s):  
Internal Waves ◽  
Temporal Variability ◽  
Internal Tide ◽  
Shelf Break ◽  
Internal Tides ◽  
North West ◽  
Vertical Displacements ◽  
Density Interfaces ◽  
Baroclinic Currents

The concept of defining an internal tide climate is used as a means of providing an assessment of the amplitude of semi-diurnal vertical displacements of density interfaces and of horizontal baroclinic currents at a particular location. The analysis uses current meter and thermistor chain observations from North Rankin, a location just seaward of the shelf break on the Australian North West Shelf, spanning a period of 28 months. Contributions from both principal lunar (M2) and principal solar (S2) period internal waves are considered. The final climatological averages (monthly values) show the baroclinic currents to be comparable to or stronger than the semi-diurnal barotropic currents at the same location for the majority of the year (October through to May). The temporal variability closely follows the variability in the stratification with very weak baroclinic motion during the winter months (June to September).

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