Moored Observations of Nonlinear Internal Waves Near DongSha

Abstract

Knowledge of internal waves and ocean mixing is important for advancing the performance of operational and climate models, as well as for understanding local problems such as pollutant dispersal and biological productivity. Nonlinear internal waves' (NLIWs) currents and displacements are strong enough to impact Navy operations such as diving, ROV operation and mine detection/removal. The South China Sea, where the internal waves are particularly strong, was selected as one of the field study regions in part because of the excellent historical context provided by the ASIAEX experiment (Ramp et al, 2004). Dongsha Island (in the western South China Sea, Figure 1) was identified as a location where the propagation, transformation and dissipation of NLIWs could be tractably studied. An experiment was designed, moorings were deployed, and results were achieved and described within this report.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 31, 2009
Accession Number
ADA520628

Entities

People

  • Matthew H. Alford

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Climate Change
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Dissipation
  • Electrical Solitons
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Internal Waves
  • Landforms
  • Military Research
  • Observation
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Shallow Water
  • South China Sea
  • Tidal Currents
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Oceanography.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).