Effects of an along-shelf current on the generation of internal tides near the critical latitude

The effects of along-shelf barotropic geostrophic currents on internal wave generation by the $K_1$ tide interacting with a shelf at near-critical latitudes are investigated. The horizontal shear of the background current results in a spatially varying effective Coriolis frequency which modifies the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of fluid mechanics Vol. 932
Main Authors He, Yangxin, Lamb, Kevin G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 10.02.2022
Subjects
Barotropic mode
Bathymetry
Energy
Energy conversion
Internal tides
Internal wave generation
Internal waves
Investigations
JFM Papers
Parameter sensitivity
Shelves
Simulation
Tidal dynamics
Tides
Topography
Wave generation
waves in rotating fluids
stratified flows
internal waves
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Summary:The effects of along-shelf barotropic geostrophic currents on internal wave generation by the $K_1$ tide interacting with a shelf at near-critical latitudes are investigated. The horizontal shear of the background current results in a spatially varying effective Coriolis frequency which modifies the slope criticality and potentially creates blocking regions where freely propagating internal tides cannot exist. This paper is focused on the barotropic to baroclinic energy conversion rate, which is affected by a combination of three factors: slope criticality, size and location of the blocking region where the conversion rate is extremely small and the internal tide (IT) beam patterns. All of these are sensitive to the current parameters. In our parameter space, the current can increase the conversion rate up to 10 times.
ISSN:0022-1120
1469-7645
DOI:10.1017/jfm.2021.1071