Bispectra of internal waves

Abstract

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.