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The effects of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a slope

The effects of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a slope
The effects of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a slope
The effect of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a sloping boundary is examined. The waves propagate at an angle ? to the horizontal in an ocean of locally uniform buoyancy frequency N, and the boundary slopes at angle ? to the horizontal. The following modifications are found when rotation is taken into account: 1) The modulus of the Lagrangian alongslope drift caused by the waves may be increased by an order of magnitude, and the level above the boundary at which the greatest drift is generated is no longer at z = 0, but depends on f/N where f is the Coriolis frequency, and the direction of the drift close to the boundary may be reversed. 2) Eulerian upslope currents associated with reflection are increased by a factor O(2). Particularly large currents are found to be generated for incident waves travelling almost directly downslope and when ? > ?. 3) The mean density and the vertical displacement of isopycnals caused by the waves are increased, possibly by factors O(2). 4) The generation of density fronts near the boundary is only slightly affected, except possibly when the incident wave direction ? is close to values at which the second-order wave components are near critical when f/N = 0. Here rotation reduces the tendency for fronts to form.
INTERNAL WAVES, BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY EFFECTS, WAVE REFLECTION
0022-3670
1901-1910
Thorpe, S.A.
8a8f3888-cf5e-4b0f-b1e7-4882989212ab
Thorpe, S.A.
8a8f3888-cf5e-4b0f-b1e7-4882989212ab

Thorpe, S.A. (2000) The effects of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a slope. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 30 (8), 1901-1910. (doi:10.1175/1520-0485(2000)030<1901:TEOROT>2.0.CO;2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The effect of rotation on the nonlinear reflection of internal waves from a sloping boundary is examined. The waves propagate at an angle ? to the horizontal in an ocean of locally uniform buoyancy frequency N, and the boundary slopes at angle ? to the horizontal. The following modifications are found when rotation is taken into account: 1) The modulus of the Lagrangian alongslope drift caused by the waves may be increased by an order of magnitude, and the level above the boundary at which the greatest drift is generated is no longer at z = 0, but depends on f/N where f is the Coriolis frequency, and the direction of the drift close to the boundary may be reversed. 2) Eulerian upslope currents associated with reflection are increased by a factor O(2). Particularly large currents are found to be generated for incident waves travelling almost directly downslope and when ? > ?. 3) The mean density and the vertical displacement of isopycnals caused by the waves are increased, possibly by factors O(2). 4) The generation of density fronts near the boundary is only slightly affected, except possibly when the incident wave direction ? is close to values at which the second-order wave components are near critical when f/N = 0. Here rotation reduces the tendency for fronts to form.

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Published date: 2000
Keywords: INTERNAL WAVES, BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY EFFECTS, WAVE REFLECTION

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 8749
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/8749
ISSN: 0022-3670
PURE UUID: a69f175f-6676-421d-940e-6095ed587ddc

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Date deposited: 14 Sep 2004
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:52

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Author: S.A. Thorpe

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