The generation of nonlinear internal waves

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2012-06Author
Jackson, Christopher R.
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da Silva, Jose C. B.
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Jeans, Gus
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5346As published
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2012.46DOI
10.5670/oceanog.2012.46Abstract
Nonlinear internal waves are found in many parts of the world ocean. Their widespread distribution is a result of their origin in the barotropic tide and in the variety of ways they can be generated, including by lee waves, tidal beams, resonance, plumes, and the transformation of the internal tide. The differing generation mechanisms and diversity of generation locations and conditions all combine to produce waves that range in scale from a few tens of meters to kilometers, but with all properly described by solitary wave theory. The ability of oceanic nonlinear internal waves to persist for days after generation and the key role internal waves play in connecting large-scale tides to smaller-scale turbulence make them important for understanding the ocean environment.
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Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, No. 2 (2012): 108–123, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.46.