Abstract
Broadly distributed measurements of velocity, density, and turbulence spanning the inner shelf off central California indicate that (i) the average shoreward-directed internal tide energy flux
Significance statement
In addition to the well-known surface tide, there exists a tidal wave in the ocean’s interior. This internal tide is considered important to ocean mixing and may propagate thousands of kilometers to its demise on continental shelves, where it ultimately breaks down through a hierarchy of complicated fluid dynamics. Now, with the aid of new sensors massively deployed over California’s continental shelf, we have been able to determine that the energy lost to the shoaling internal tide goes almost completely to turbulence and is extinguished by the time it reaches the 25-m isobath. A surprising finding is that inshore of 50-m water depth the internal tide entirely loses memory of its initial strength.
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This article has a companion article which can be found at http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JPO-D-21-0047.1.
