FLOW PHENOMENA CAUSED BY THE COLLAPSE OF A MIXED REGION IN A DENSITY-STRATIFIED MEDIUM.
Abstract
Various phenomena are caused by the collapse of a mixed region in a model ocean; these include internal waves propagated in the linear-stratified medium below the thermocline, interfacial waves at the density-discontinuous interface (thermocline) and surface currents at the free surface. Results include the wave and orbital motions produced outside of the collapsing region for a number of different density stratifications. Regular internal waves of progressive oscillatory type propagating along the isopycnic lines can be scaled according to the length scale of the mixed region and the inverse time scale of the linear-stratified medium (Vaisala frequency of the medium). The value of the density jump at the thermocline determines whether the interfacial wave is characterized by the modeled thermocline and is essentially of a shallow water wave type, or is characterized by the lower stratified field and is essentially an internal wave distrubance. A series of divergences or convergences (surface sloshing currents) was observed at free surface; the general pattern of these currents shows that the water particles oscillated sinusoidally with time at each station, and that particles separated by approximately half an interfacial wave length oscillated exactly out of phase. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0640800
Entities
People
- Jin Wu