Deep-water internal solitaty waves

Abstract

An experimental investigation of mode-2 (’lump-Like’) Solitary waves propagaling on a thin interface between two deep layers of different densities is presented. Small-and large-amplitude waves behaved differently: small waves carried energy and momentum, whereas sufficiently large waves also carried mass. Weakly nonlinear theory anticipated the result for amplitudes a/h [les ] 0.5 but did not provide even a qualitative description of the large-amplitude waves. In particular, the prediction that for waves to maintain permanent form their wavelength must decrease with increasing amplitude failed; instead the wavelength of large waves was observed to increase with increasing amplitude. Furthermore, whilst the waves were expected to emerge from interactions along their precollision trajectories, the large waves actually suffered a backward shift.

Convex and concave types of second baroclinic mode internal solitary waves

“…In the upper layer, a "convex wave" has a leading upward displacement of an isotherm ahead of the wave and a trailing downward displacement behind it. Deeper in the water column, the opposite displacement occurs, creating what has been described as a bulge-shaped, double-humped, varicose, or sausage-type wave (Davis and Acrivos, 1967;Stamp and Jacka, 1995;Ostrovsky and Stepanyants, 2005;Moum et al, 2008). Pioneering investigations have described this type of wave, including theoretical investigations (Benjamin, 1967;Davis and Acrivos, 1967;Akylas and Grimshaw, 1992;Vlasenko, 1994;Grimshaw, 1997), laboratory experiments (Davis and Acrivos, 1967;Kao and Pao, 1980;Maxworthy, 1980;Honji et al, 1995;Stamp and Jacka, 1995;Vlasenko and Hutter, 2001;Mehta et al, 2002;Sutherland, 2002), numerical analyses (Tung et al, 1982;Terez and Knio, 1998;Rubino et al, 2001;Vlasenko and Hutter, 2001;Rusås and Grue, 2002;Stastna and Peltier, 2005;Vlasenko and Alpers, 2005), and field observations (Farmer and Smith, 1980;Konyaev et al, 1995;Imberger, 1998, 2001;Antenucci et al, 2000;Boegman et al, 2003;Duda et al, 2004;Yang et al, 2004;Bougucki et al, 2005;Sabinin and Serebryany, 2005;Moum et al, 2008;Shroyer et al, 2010).…”

Head-on collision of internal waves with trapped cores

“…The fluid can also be trapped by ISWs of mode-2 (Yang et al, 2010;Shroyer et al, 2010;Ramp et al, 2015) propagating in the thin interface layer between two uniform density layers, as has been shown in laboratory experiments (e.g. Davis and Acrivos, 1967;Maxworthy, 1980;Kao and Pao, 1980;Honji and Matsunaga, 1995;Stamp and Jacka, 1995;Maderich et al, 2001;Brandt and Shipley, 2014;Carr et al, 2015). The weakly non-linear solution for the corresponding ISW (i.e.…”

Large amplitude internal solitary waves over a shelf

“…Correspondence to: V. Liapidevskii (liapid@hydro.nsc.ru) fluid is carried horizontally for long distances for both types of bottom and surface internal waves (Maxworthy, 1980;Tung et al, 1982;Stamp and Jacka, 1995). Scotti and Pineda (2004) have recently observed bore-like structures with trapped cores in the near shore area of the Atlantics.…”

“…In stratified water reservoirs, internal waves with a trapped core have been found in the bottom layer (Scotti and Pineda, 2004) and the surface layer (Helfrich and Melville, 2006), and at the interface between homogeneous fluid layers of different densities (Stevens et al, 2005). Intrusion flows in the form of symmetric solitary waves at the interface between fluids have been studied using experimental and theoretical methods (Benjamin, 1967;Davis and Acrivos, 1967;Maxworthy, 1980;Kao and Pao, 1980;Tung et al, 1982;Hohji et al, 1995;Stamp and Jacka, 1995;Schmidt and Spigel, 2000). Interest in this class of flows is motivated by their unique ability to transfer mass along high-gradient interlayers in a stratified fluid due to the initial horizontal momentum.…”