The Effect of Internal Wave Strain on Vertical Spectra of Fine-Structure

Christopher Garrett Dept. of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Search for other papers by Christopher Garrett in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

We are aware of a technical issue preventing figures and tables from showing in some newly published articles in the full-text HTML view.
While we are resolving the problem, please use the online PDF version of these articles to view figures and tables.

Abstract

Vertical spectra of temperature perturbations are due to (i) internal wave displacement in the mean profile and (ii) fine-structure that would still be measured in the absence of internal waves. The former is probably confined to low wavenumbers, but at a lower energy level could be responsible for some of the reported fine-structure. The latter is distorted by the internal waves and differs from the true fine-structure spectrum by an amount proportional to the mean-square strain of internal waves.

Abstract

Vertical spectra of temperature perturbations are due to (i) internal wave displacement in the mean profile and (ii) fine-structure that would still be measured in the absence of internal waves. The former is probably confined to low wavenumbers, but at a lower energy level could be responsible for some of the reported fine-structure. The latter is distorted by the internal waves and differs from the true fine-structure spectrum by an amount proportional to the mean-square strain of internal waves.

Save