Energy flux is a fundamental quantity for understanding internal wave generation, propagation, and dissipation. In this paper, the estimation of internal wave energy fluxes <u′p′> from ocean observations that may be sparse in either time or depth are considered. Sampling must be sufficient in depth to allow for the estimation...
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...
The Luzon Strait is the generation region for strong internal tides that radiate westward into the South China Sea and eastward into the western Pacific. Intrusions of the Kuroshio and strong mesoscale variability in the Luzon Strait can influence their generation and propagation. Here, the authors use eight moorings and...
Observations of breaking internal tides on the Oregon continental slope during a 40-day deployment of 5 moorings along 43°12'N are presented. Remotely generated internal tides shoal onto the slope, steepen, break, and form turbulent bores that propagate upslope independently of the internal tide. A high-resolution snapshot of a single bore...
The linear transfer of tidal energy from large to small scales is quantified for small tidal excursion over a near-critical continental slope. A theoretical framework for low-wavenumber energy transfer is derived from “flat bottom” vertical modes and evaluated with observations from the Oregon continental slope. To better understand the observations,...
Internal waves are often observed to break close to the seafloor topography that generates them, or from which they scatter. This breaking is often spectacular, with turbulent structures observed hundreds of meters above the seafloor, and driving turbulence dissipations and mixing up to 10,000 times open-ocean levels. This article provides...
The three-dimensional (3D) double-ridge internal tide interference in the Luzon Strait in the South China
Sea is examined by comparing 3D and two-dimensional (2D) realistic simulations. Both the 3D simulations
and observations indicate the presence of 3D first-mode (semi)diurnal standing waves in the 3.6-km-deep
trench in the strait. As in...
Internal tide generation, propagation, and dissipation are investigated in Luzon Strait, a system of two quasi-parallel ridges situated between Taiwan and the Philippines. Two profiling moorings deployed for about 20 days and a set of nineteen 36-h lowered ADCP-CTD time series stations allowed separate measurement of diurnal and semidiurnal internal...
Internal tide generation, propagation, and dissipation are investigated in Luzon Strait, a system of two quasi-parallel ridges situated between Taiwan and the Philippines. Two profiling moorings deployed for about 20 days and a set of nineteen 36-h lowered ADCP–CTD time series stations allowed separate measurement of diurnal and semidiurnal internal...
The authors present inferences of diapycnal diffusivity from a compilation of over 5200 microstructure
profiles. As microstructure observations are sparse, these are supplemented with indirect measurements of
mixing obtained from (i) Thorpe-scale overturns from moored profilers, a finescale parameterization applied to
(ii) shipboard observations of upper-ocean shear, (iii) strain as...