Physical and ecological processes of internal waves on an isolated reef ecosystem in the South China Sea

Wang, Yu-Huai; Dai, Chang‐Feng; Chen, Yang-Yih

doi:10.1029/2007gl030658

Cited by 152 publications

(121 citation statements)

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“…vertical and horizontal currents, and the turbulent mixing caused by their breaking, they impact a panoply of ocean processes, such as the supply of nutrients for photosynthesis 1 , sediment and pollutant transport 2 and acoustic transmission 3 ; they also pose hazards for manmade structures in the ocean 4 . Generated primarily by the wind and the tides, internal waves can travel thousands of kilometres from their sources before breaking 5 , posing severe challenges for their observation and their inclusion in numerical climate models, which are sensitive to their effects [6][7] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea

Alford

Peacock

MacKinnon

et al. 2015

Nature

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541

329

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Internal gravity waves, the subsurface analogue of the familiar surface gravity waves that break on beaches, are ubiquitous in the ocean. Because of their strong Internal gravity waves are propagating disturbances of the ocean's density stratification. Their physics resembles that of surface gravity waves but with buoyancy rather than gravity providing their restoring force -making them much larger (10's to 100's of meters instead of 1 to 10 meters) and slower (hours instead of seconds). Generated primarily by tidal flow past seafloor topography and winds blowing on the sea surface, and typically having multi-kilometer-scale horizontal wavelengths, their estimated 1 TW of deep-sea dissipation is understood to play a crucial role in the ocean's global redistribution of heat and momentum 12 . A major challenge is to improve understanding of internal wave generation, propagation, steepening and dissipation, so that the role of internal waves can be more accurately incorporated in climate models.The internal waves that originate from the Luzon Strait on the eastern margin of the South China Sea (SCS) are the largest documented in the global oceans ( Figure 1).As the waves propagate west from the Luzon Strait they steepen dramatically ( Figure 1a), producing distinctive solitary wave fronts evident in sun glint and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from satellites ( Figure 1b). When they shoal onto the continental slope to the west, the downward displacement of the ocean's layers associated with these solitary waves can exceed 250 m in 5 minutes 8 . On such a scale, these waves pose hazards for underwater navigation and offshore drilling 4 , and supply nutrients from the deep ocean that nourish coral reefs 1 and pilot whale populations that forage in their wakes 13 .Over the past decade a number of field studies have been conducted in the region; this work has been comprehensively reviewed 10,11 . All of these studies, however, focused on the propagation of the internal waves across the SCS and their interactions with the continental shelf of China. Until the present study there had been no substantial in situ data gathered at the generation site of the Luzon Strait, in large part because of the extremely challenging operating conditions. A consequence has been persistent 5 confusion regarding the nature of the generation mechanism 11 ; an underlying cause being the sensitivity of the models employed to the system parameters, such as the chosen transect for a two-dimensional model, the linear internal wave speed or the assumed location of the waves' origin within the Luzon Strait. Furthermore, the lack of in situ data from the Luzon Strait has meant an inability to test numerical predictions of energy budgets 9 and no knowledge of the impact of the Kuroshio on the emergence of internal solitary waves 11 .The goal of IWISE is to obtain the first comprehensive in situ data set from the Luzon Strait, which in combination with high-resolution three-dimensional numerical modeling supports a cradle-to-grave picture ...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea

Alford

Peacock

MacKinnon

et al. 2015

Nature

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541

329

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“…slopes facing the open basin remained healthy (Wang et al, 2007). It has been suggested that larvae living in the fluctuating thermal regimes might be physiologically well suited to the more extreme temperature variations (Putnam et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Shoaling of large-amplitude nonlinear internal waves at Dongsha Atoll in the northern South China Sea

Wang

Laurent

et al. 2012

Continental Shelf Research

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“…The large internal solitary waves that shoal onto the Chinese continental shelf are highly energetic features that have implications for biological productivity and sediment transport (Wang et al, 2007;Reeder et al, 2011). St.…”

Section: K G Lamb and A Warn-varnas: Shoaling Internal Solitary Wavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of shoaling internal solitary waves at the ASIAEX site in the South China Sea

Lamb

Warn-Varnas

2015

Nonlin. Processes Geophys.

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Abstract. The interaction of barotropic tides with LuzonStrait topography generates some of the world's largest internal solitary waves which eventually shoal and dissipate on the western side of the northern South China Sea. Twodimensional numerical simulations of the shoaling of a single internal solitary wave at the site of the Asian Seas International Acoustic Experiment (ASIAEX) have been undertaken in order to investigate the sensitivity of the shoaling process to the stratification and the underlying bathymetry and to explore the influence of rotation. The bulk of the simulations are inviscid; however, exploratory simulations using a vertical eddy-viscosity confined to a near bottom layer, along with a no-slip boundary condition, suggest that viscous effects may become important in water shallower than about 200 m. A shoaling solitary wave fissions into several waves. At depths of 200-300 m the front of the leading waves become nearly parallel to the bottom and develop a very steep back as has been observed. The leading waves are followed by waves of elevation (pedestals) that are conjugate to the waves of depression ahead and behind them. Horizontal resolutions of at least 50 m are required to simulate these well. Wave breaking was found to occur behind the second or third of the leading solitary waves, never at the back of the leading wave. Comparisons of the shoaling of waves started at depths of 1000 and 3000 m show significant differences and the shoaling waves can be significantly non-adiabatic even at depths greater than 2000 m. When waves reach a depth of 200 m, their amplitudes can be more than 50 % larger than the largest possible solitary wave at that depth. The shoaling behaviour is sensitive to the presence of small-scale features in the bathymetry: a 200 m high bump at 700 m depth can result in the generation of many mode-two waves and of higher mode waves. Sensitivity to the stratification is considered by using three stratifications based on summer observations. They primarily differ in the depth of the thermocline. The generation of mode-two waves and the behaviour of the waves in shallow water is sensitive to this depth. Rotation affects the shoaling waves by reducing the amplitude of the leading waves via the radiation of long trailing inertiagravity waves. The nonlinear-dispersive evolution of these inertia-gravity waves results in the formation of secondary mode-one wave packets.

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Physical and ecological processes of internal waves on an isolated reef ecosystem in the South China Sea

Cited by 152 publications

References 15 publications

The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea

The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea

Shoaling of large-amplitude nonlinear internal waves at Dongsha Atoll in the northern South China Sea

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of shoaling internal solitary waves at the ASIAEX site in the South China Sea

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