Observations of Internal Waves in the Upper Ocean

Abstract

Profiles of temperature versus depth in the top 440 m of the sea were taken repeatedly at three horizontal locations surrounding the Research Platform FLIP. The time fluctuation of the temperature profiles was used to determine isotherm displacement and slope variation in the region 60-400 m. Measurements were taken during three FLIP operations. Two were off the California coast, in November 1972 and June 1973. Horizontal and vertical coherence measurements indicate that the internal wavefield can be divided into two frequency regions. Above 2 cph the bandwidth of energetic horizontal and vertical wavenumbers is comparatively narrow. The isotherm displacement spectrum and slope spectrum have irregular slopes. A comparison of the two spectra indicate that first mode is strongly dominant. Below 2 cph, the bandwidth of energetic wavenumbers is broader, corresponding to many energetic modes.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1975
Accession Number
ADA013337

Entities

People

  • Robert Pinkel

Organizations

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coefficients
  • Contracts
  • Eigenvectors
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Internal Waves
  • Isotherms
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Linear Algebra
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Oceanography
  • Phase Velocity
  • Potential Energy
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Temperature Inversion
  • Wave Propagation

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Oceanography.
  • Spectroscopy.