EARLY STUDENT SUPPORT: HIGH RESOLUTION MEASUREMENTS OF NONLINEAR INTERNAL WAVES AND MIXING ON THE WASHINGTON
Abstract
Observations from a real-time mooring that we maintain on the Washington continental shelf indicate an extremely energetic field of nonlinear internal waves (NLIW) propagating onshore. As a fraction of the water depth, their amplitude is the largest in the world, including the South China Sea. The waves propagate through a strongly time-variable sheared coastal jet current, and appear to be generated as remote internal tides shoal onto the shelf break. We recently used our Shallow Water Integrated Mapping System (SWIMS) and Modular Microstructure Profiler (MMP) instruments to directly measure their spatial structure and mixing, in order to 1) better understand the propagation and dissipation of extremely strongly nonlinear internal waves in sheared currents and 2) characterize their effects on the acoustic, physical and biological environment of the region. This proposal seeks early student support funds for a graduate student, Madelyn Hamann, to analyze the data and publish the results.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512284
Entities
People
- Matthew H. Alford
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego