Towed Observations of Internal Waves in the Upper Ocean.

Abstract

Observations between 20 and 40 m depth were made with a towed thermister chain in the North Pacific. Despite the rapid vertical variation of buoyancy frequency, spectra of isotherm displacements are in fair agreement with other observations and with the Garrett-Munk model. The spectra show evidence of a shoulder and break in slope at a wavelength of 1 km. There is no evidence of significant variation of spectral levels as a function of buoyancy frequency, tow direction or wind speed. A peak at a wavelength of 1 km in coherence spectra between pairs of isotherms separated in the vertical suggests that internal wave energy at this wavelength is dominated by the low modes. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA074273

Entities

People

  • Thomas James Spoering

Organizations

  • Oregon State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Sensors
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Agreements
  • Buoyancy
  • Computational Science
  • Data Acquisition
  • Displacement
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Internal Waves
  • Isotherms
  • Observation
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Spectra
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Wave Power
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Oceanography.