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- Title
Saturation of the Internal Tide over the Inner Continental Shelf. Part I: Observations.
- Authors
Becherer, Johannes; Moum, James N.; Calantoni, Joseph; Colosi, John A.; Barth, John A.; Lerczak, James A.; McSweeney, Jacqueline M.; MacKinnon, Jennifer A.; Waterhouse, Amy F.
- Abstract
Broadly distributed measurements of velocity, density, and turbulence spanning the inner shelf off central California indicate that (i) the average shoreward-directed internal tide energy flux 〈 F E 〉 decreases to near 0 at the 25-m isobath; (ii) the vertically integrated turbulence dissipation rate 〈 D 〉 is approximately equal to the flux divergence of internal tide energy ∂ x 〈 F E 〉 ; (iii) the ratio of turbulence energy dissipation in the interior relative to the bottom boundary layer (BBL) decreases toward shallow waters; (iv) going inshore, 〈 F E 〉 becomes decorrelated with the incoming internal wave energy flux; and (v) 〈 F E 〉 becomes increasingly correlated with stratification toward shallower water. Significance statement: In addition to the well-known surface tide, there exists a tidal wave in the ocean's interior. This internal tide is considered important to ocean mixing and may propagate thousands of kilometers to its demise on continental shelves, where it ultimately breaks down through a hierarchy of complicated fluid dynamics. Now, with the aid of new sensors massively deployed over California's continental shelf, we have been able to determine that the energy lost to the shoaling internal tide goes almost completely to turbulence and is extinguished by the time it reaches the 25-m isobath. A surprising finding is that inshore of 50-m water depth the internal tide entirely loses memory of its initial strength.
- Subjects
CALIFORNIA; CONTINENTAL shelf; INTERNAL waves; FLUID dynamics; BOUNDARY layer (Aerodynamics); OCEANIC mixing; WAVE energy
- Publication
Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2021, Vol 51, Issue 8, p2553
- ISSN
0022-3670
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1175/JPO-D-20-0264.1