(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1978-03)
McComas, C. H.
Derived from the equations of motion, the bispectrum of power
indicates the rate of energy transfer among components of the internal
wave field . This, or any other bispectrum, can be evaluated from weak
resonant interaction theory given the wave spectrum. Using the Garrett
and Munk model of the deep open ocean internal wave spectrum, the
bispectrum of power and the closely related auto-bispectrum of vertical
displacements are evaluated numerically with the intention of providing
an observational test of the weak interaction theory and its predictions.
The resulting levels of the bispectra for typical deep ocean internal
waves are generally too low to be observed with any statistical confidence
in an experiment of reasonable length and cost.
