Moored current, temperature, and conductivity measurements are used to study the temporal variability of M-2 internal tide generation above the Kaena Ridge, between the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai. The energy conversion from the barotropic to baroclinic tide measured near the ridge crest varies by a factor of 2...
Closely spaced vertical profiles through the bottom boundary layer over a sloping continental shelf during relaxation from coastal upwelling reveal structure that is consistent with convectively driven mixing. Parcels of fluid were observed adjacent to the bottom that were warm (by several millikelvin) relative to fluid immediately above. On average,...
A high-resolution primitive equation model simulation is used to form an energy budget for the principal semidiurnal tide (M₂) over a region of the Hawaiian Ridge from Niihau to Maui. This region includes the Kaena Ridge, one of the three main internal tide generation sites along the Hawaiian Ridge and...
The Garrett–Munk (GM) spectrum continues to be a useful description of the oceanic internal wave field. However, there are several inconsistencies and ambiguities that make it difficult to use in comparing internal wave fields at different latitudes, stratifications, and water depths. A modified spectral formulation is presented that treats three...
A model is developed to calculate the upper ocean internal wave spectrum as modified by the surface boundary and mixed layer. The Garrett‐Munk spectrum is assumed to describe the deep ocean wave field. The main effect of the surface and mixed layer is to align the vertical structure of the...
The spectral composition of internal gravity waves under the Arctic pack ice during the Arctic Internal Wave Experiment (AIWEX) was found to be strikingly different from observations at lower latitudes. Time series of vertical displacement were inferred from horizontal and vertical arrays of temperature and conductivity sensors. Frequency spectra indicate...
This review documents the advances in our knowledge of the oceanic internal wave field during the past quadrennium. Emphasis is placed on studies that deal most directly with the measurement and modeling of internal waves as they exist in the ocean. Progress has come by realizing that specific physical processes...
Vertical cross-sections of temperature in the Sargasso Sea and across
the Gulf Stream and a warm core ring were obtained with a towed thermistor
chain in September 1981. The thermistors were distributed in the upper
70 to 120 m during three runs. Salinity was also measured at two locations
on...
Temperature was observed in the upper 80 m by moored thermistor chains at three locations in Rockall Channel west of Scotland. Isotherms were interpolated, and a 1‐week period of exceptionally energetic tidal oscillations was analyzed. The moored array (horizontal separations ranging from 6 to 20 km) was used as an...
Wind-generated inertial currents can radiate from the mixed layer as horizontally and vertically propagating new-inertial internal gravity waves. To study the timescale of the decay of mixed layer energy and the magnitude of the energy transfer to the ocean below, the authors developed a numerical, linear model on a β...