Microstructure Analysis

Abstract

Field observations have revealed that the ocean's thermocline possesses an internal structure consisting of a series of thin, laminar 'sheets' of high gradient separated by 'steps' of only moderate density gradient. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the observed phenomenon. These mechanisms consist of double diffusion, interleaving, internal gravity wave breaking and internal wave steepening. In this report, the concept of interval wave steepening is examined. The authors first determine the set of admissable wave solutions and then examine the nonlinear coupling. Comparison with field data establishes the feasibility of the wave steepening approach.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 15, 1975
Accession Number
ADA012394

Entities

People

  • Girard Simons

Organizations

  • Physical Sciences (United States)

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Propagation
  • Contracts
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Gravity
  • Gravity Waves
  • Internal Waves
  • Microstructure
  • Military Research
  • Observation
  • Perturbations
  • Physical Sciences
  • Plane Waves
  • Power Series
  • Sound Waves
  • Transverse Waves
  • Waves

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.