Internal Waves and Mixing in the Aegean Sea

Abstract

LONG-TERM GOALS: To identify the major processes producing mixing in the upper ocean and to understand their dynamics sufficiently well to permit accurate parameterization of mixing for use in numerical models. OBJECTIVES: This project was designed to understand how the very rugged and irregular bathymetry in the Aegean Sea modifies the internal wave field and the mixing it produces. Because tides are weak throughout the Mediterranean, mixing produced by internal waves should stand out, unlike the situation on the U.S. coasts, where tidal currents generate a significant fraction of the mixing. Going to a place where one of the two major processes is weak should allow us to understand better the role of internal waves, e.g., how much of the mixing observed close to sloping bottoms results from scattering of internal waves?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2006
Accession Number
ADA612670

Entities

People

  • Jack Miller
  • Matthew H. Alford
  • Michael Gregg

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aegean Sea
  • Black Sea
  • Data Sets
  • Dissipation
  • Frequency
  • High Resolution
  • Information Operations
  • Internal Waves
  • Landforms
  • Measurement
  • Oceans
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Pressure Gradients
  • Tidal Currents
  • Underwater Acoustics
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Oceanography.
  • Theoretical Analysis.