Energy spectra of the ocean's internal wave field: theory and observations

The high-frequency limit of the Garrett and Munk spectrum of internal waves in the ocean and the observed deviations from it are shown to form a pattern consistent with the predictions of wave turbulence theory. In particular, the high-frequency limit of the Garrett and Munk spectrum constitutes an exact steady-state solution of the corresponding kinetic equation.     

Determining the sea-roughness spectra from an optical image of the sea surface

An optical model of sea-surface imaging based on a two-scale presentation of sea roughness is developed. Using this model, an exact expression for the sea-surface image spectrum in diffuse sky light is obtained, which made it possible to estimate the nonlinear contribution of waves of different scales to the image spectrum. In particular, it is shown that the image spectrum is proportional to the wave tilt spectrum and the coefficient before the tilt spectrum is determined by the modulation of the short-wave contrast by long waves. Accuracy of determination of spectral contrasts of waves in surface-roughness anomalies (film slicks, internal-wave field, etc.) and accuracy of measurement of two-dimensional wave spectra from the sea-surface image spectrum are estimated. Examples of sea-roughness variability in the internal-wave field and examples of two-dimensional sea-roughness spectra are presented. All data were obtained by the optical method under full-scale conditions. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 53–63, January 2006.     

Nonlinear wave-wave interactions in stratified flows: Direct numerical simulations

To investigate the formation mechanism of energy spectra of internal waves in the oceans, direct numerical simulations are performed. The simulations are based on the reduced dynamical equations of rotating stratified turbulence. In the reduced dynamical equations only wave modes are retained, and vortices and horizontally uniform vertical shears are excluded. Despite the simplifications, our simulations reproduce some key features of oceanic internal-wave spectra: accumulation of energy at near-inertial waves and realistic frequency and horizontal wavenumber dependencies. Furthermore, we provide evidence that formation of the energy spectra in the inertial subrange is dominated by scale-separated interactions with the near-inertial waves. These findings support observationally based intuition that spectral energy density of internal waves is the result of predominantly wave-wave interactions.     

Self-organized Criticality Model for Ocean Internal Waves

In this paper, we present a simple spring-block model for ocean internal waves based on the self-organized criticality （SOC）. The oscillations of the water blocks in the model display power-law behavior with an exponent of -2 in the frequency domain, which is similar to the current and sea water temperature spectra in the actual ocean and the universal Garrett and Munk deep ocean internal wave model [Geophysical Fluid Dynamics 2 （1972） 225; J. Geophys. Res. 80 （1975） 291]. The influence of the ratio of the driving force to the spring coefficient to SOC behaviors in the model is also discussed.     

“Hot spots” in the field of internal waves in the ocean

A review of observations of high-amplitude internal waves is presented. These waves play an important role in the global scenario of water mixing in the world ocean and also cause a considerable variability of oceanographic fields, including the sound velocity field. The main sources of intense internal waves and the regions where such waves arise are considered. It is shown that, in addition to the much-investigated trains of soliton-like internal waves, which are formed near large-scale inhomogeneities of the bottom relief because of the nonlinear evolution of internal tides, internal waves encountered in the open ocean also possess considerable amplitudes and nonlinearity.     

Acoustic sweep monitoring of background internal waves

The results of a theoretical consideration of fluctuations that occur in the frequency shifts of the interference pattern under the effect of background internal waves are presented. Possibilities of reconstructing the spectrum of vertical displacements of liquid layers from the measured spectrum of frequency deviations of a local interference peak are analyzed within the framework of a numerical experiment. Problems of stability and the efficiency of the proposed monitoring are discussed.     

Resonant nonlinear interactions between atmospheric waves in the polar summer mesopause region

Data obtained from the mobile SOUSY VHF radar at And(ya/Norway in summer 1987 have been used to study the nonlinear interactions between planetary waves, tides and gravity waves in the polar mesosphere, and the instability of background atmosphere above the mesopause. It is observed that 35-h planetary wave, diurnal, semidiurnal and terdiurnal tides are the prominent perturbations in the Lomb-Scargle spectra of the zonal wind component. By inspecting the frequency combinations, several triads are identified. By bispectral analysis it is shown that most bispectral peaks stand for quadratic coupling between tidal harmonics or between tide and planetary or gravity wave, and the height dependence of bispectral peaks reflects the variation of wave-wave interactions. Above the mesopause, the occurrence heights of the maximum L-S power spectral peaks corresponding to the prominent wave components tend to increase with their frequencies. This may result from the process in which two low frequency waves interact to generate a high frequency wave. Intensities of the planetary wave and tides increase gradually, arrive at their maxima, and then decay quickly in turn with increasing height. This kind of scene correlates with a "chain" of wave-wave resonant interactions that shifts with height from lower frequency segment to higher frequency segment. By instability analysis, it is observed that above the mesopause, the Richardson number becomes smaller and smaller with height, implying that the turbulent motion grows stronger and stronger and accordingly the background atmosphere more and more instable. It is suggested that the wave-wave sum resonant interaction and the wave dissipation due to instability are two dominant dynamical processes that occur in the mesopause region. The former invokes the energy transfer from lower frequency waves to higher frequency waves. The latter results in the heating of the atmosphere and accelerating of the background flow.     

Analysis and modeling of broadband airgun data influenced by nonlinear internal waves

To investigate acoustic effects of nonlinear internal waves, the two southwest tracks of the SWARM 95 experiment are considered. An airgun source produced broadband acoustic signals while a packet of large nonlinear internal waves passed between the source and two vertical linear arrays. The broadband data and its frequency range (10-180 Hz) distinguish this study from previous work. Models are developed for the internal wave environment, the geoacoustic parameters, and the airgun source signature. Parabolic equation simulations demonstrate that observed variations in intensity and wavelet time-frequency plots can be attributed to nonlinear internal waves. Empirical tests are provided of the internal wave-acoustic resonance condition that is the apparent theoretical mechanism responsible for the variations. Peaks of the effective internal wave spectrum are shown to coincide with differences in dominant acoustic wavenumbers comprising the airgun signal. The robustness of these relationships is investigated by simulations for a variety of geoacoustic and nonlinear internal wave model parameters.     

Internal-wave time evolution effect on ocean acoustic rays

A range-dependent field of sound speed in the ocean, c(x,z), caused by internal waves, can give rise to instabilities in acoustic ray paths. Past work has shown the importance of the background, range-independent, sound-speed profile; the ray initial conditions; the source-receiver geometry (depths and range); and the strength of the internal waves. However, in the past the time evolution of the internal waves has been ignored on the grounds that the speed of internal waves is much slower than the speed of the acoustic wave. It is shown here by numerical simulation that two rays with identical initial conditions, traveling through an ocean with the same background profile and the same random realization of internal waves, but with the internal waves frozen in one case and evolving in the other, travel significantly different trajectories. The dependence of this "frozen-unfrozen" difference on the initial ray launch angle, the background profile, and the strength of the internal-wave spectrum, is investigated. The launch-angle difference that generates similar arrival-depth differences to those induced by internal-wave time evolution is on the order of 100 microrad. The pattern of differences is measured here by the arrival depth at the final range of 1000 km. The observed pattern as a function of launch angle, change in the background profile, and change in internal-wave strength is found to be nearly the same for "frozen-unfrozen" change as for a slight change in launch angle.     

稳定分层二层流非湍流/湍流层无平均剪切密度界面处的湍流

采用湍流统计理论、谱分析和快速畸变理论研究稳定分层二层流非湍流/湍流层无平均剪切密度界面处的湍流.分别在密度界面厚度（h）可忽略和很薄两种情况下,推导出任意理查森数（Ri）Ri→∞时,湍流层中水平、垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱和水平、垂直方向均方根速度的积分表达式.在h可忽略情况下：（1）任意Ri,Ri→∞时,密度界面对大尺度涡的影响显著,而对小尺度涡几乎无影响;距离密度界面越近,湍流层中水平方向均方根速度增大而垂直方向均方根速度减小;（2）任意Ri且在无量纲频率较大时,密度界面处、湍流层中水平、垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱满足-5/3幂次律,但是,它们不收敛于同一直线,表明密度界面处部分湍流转化为内波.在h很薄的情况下：（1）在水平方向上密度界面对湍流无显著的影响;湍流层中垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱出现过渡区,不满足-5/3幂次律,其幂次律增大,表明湍流过渡区的能量减少,但是,密度界面对线性小尺度涡仍几乎无影响;（2）距离密度界面越远,密度界面厚度对湍流的影响减弱并且偏向于线性中尺度涡;当远离密度界面时,过渡区消失,表明考虑密度界面厚度后密度界面对湍流的影响范围有限;（3）密度界面处垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱的幂次律减小,表明密度界面处线性内波的能量向线性低频区集中;（4）随着密度界面厚度增加,密度界面处垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱在整个线性内波频域里等幅度减小,湍流层中垂直方向速度的欧拉频谱只在线性低频区域减小且减小的幅度随着频率增大而减小;密度界面对湍流层中水平、垂直方向均方根速度影响的垂向范围随Ri增大而减小.     

Temporal coherence of sound transmissions in deep water revisited

This paper examines the signal coherence loss due to internal waves in deep water in terms of the signal coherence time and compare to data reported in the literature over the past 35 years. The coherence time of the early raylike arrivals was previously modeled by Munk and Zachariasen ["Sound propagation through a fluctuating stratified ocean: Theory and observation," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 59, 818-838 (1976)] using the supereikonal approximation and by Dashen et al. ["Path-integral treatment of acoustic mutual coherence functions for arrays in a sound channel," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 1716-1722 (1985)] using the path integral approach; a -1 [corrected] power frequency dependence and a -1/2 [corrected] power range dependence were predicted. Recent data in shallow water in downward refractive environments with internal waves suggested that the signal coherence time of the mode arrivals follows a -3/2 power frequency dependence and a -1/2 power range dependence. Since the temporal coherence of the acoustic signal is related to the temporal coherence of the internal waves, based on the observation that the (linear) internal waves in deep and shallow waters have a similar frequency spectrum, it is argued that the modelike arrivals in deep water should exhibit a similar frequency dependence in deep and shallow waters. This argument is supported by a brute-force application of the path integral to mode arrivals based on the WKB relation between the ray and mode. It is found that the data are consistent with the -3/2 power frequency dependence but more data are needed to further test the hypothesis.     

Transformation of Short Waves in a Nonuniform Flow Field on the Ocean Surface. The Effect of Wind Growth Rate Modulation

We develop a model of transformation of the short surface wave spectrum in the presence of a nonuniform flow on a water surface, in which the modulation of wind-wave growth rate is taken into account. The model of a turbulent near-water atmospheric layer is used to calculate the modulated growth rate. In this model, turbulent stresses in the wind are described using a gradient approximation with model eddy viscosity specified with allowance for the known laboratory experiments. The examples of short-wave modulation in the presence of nonuniform flows on a water surface, originating from ripples and intense internal waves, are considered. It is shown that deformations of the wind-velocity profile and its long-wavelength perturbation due to the nonlinear interaction between the wind surface waves and the wind has a significant effects on the short-wave growth rate and its modulation. In the case of ripples, this deformation reduces to an increase in the roughness parameter of the wind-velocity profile and to a velocity-profile modulation with ripple period. The modulated growth rate is calculated within the framework of a quasi-linear model of surface-wave generation by a turbulent wind, in which the hypothesis of random phases of the wind-wave field is used. The amplitude and phase of the hydrodynamical modulation transfer function are calculated within the framework of the relaxation model. The calculation results are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental data. A model described by the combined Korteweg–de Vries equation is used to study a surface flow field generated by intense internal waves. The internal-wave parameters are takes from the results of the COPE experiment. We calculate the wind growth-rate dependences on the wave-train phase for the cases of downwind and upwind propagation of an internal wave. The calculation results agree qualitatively with experimental data.     

Calculations of internal-wave-induced fluctuations in ocean-acoustic propagation

Variability in the ocean sound-speed field on time scales of a few hours and horizontal spatial scales of a few kilometers is often dominated by the random, anisotropic fluctuations caused by the internal-wave field. Results have been compiled from analytical approaches and from numerical simulations using the parabolic approximation into an efficient set of algorithms for calculating approximations to internal-wave effects on temporal and spatial coherences, coherent bandwidths, and regimes of acoustic fluctuation behavior. These approximate formulas account for the background, deterministic, sound-speed profile and the anisotropy of the internal-wave field, and they also allow for the incorporation of experimentally determined profiles of sound speed, buoyancy frequency, and sound-speed variance. The algorithms start from the geometrical-acoustics approximation, in which the field transmitted from a source can be described completely in terms of rays whose characteristics are determined by the sound speed as a function of position. Ordinary integrals along these rays provide approximations to acoustic-fluctuation quantities due to the statistical effects of internal waves, including diffraction. The results from the algorithms are compared with numerical simulations and with experimental results for long-range propagation in the deep ocean.     

Dimensional resonances and second-harmonic generation in a semibounded nonlinear layered periodic medium

A theory for the nonlinear interaction of electromagnetic waves in a semibounded periodic dielectric structure is developed using the example of second-harmonic generation. One of the layers forming a period is assumed to have nonlinear polarization. The theory is an improved perturbation theory based on the Green theorem. The phase-matching conditions for interacting waves are shown to correspond to dimensional resonances for individual layers or for the structure period. The interaction efficiency is maximum at passband edges for the case of resonance for the entire period. For this resonance, the phase-matching conditions are met for a frequency spectrum rather than for a single frequency. This feature makes it possible to convert spectra from one frequency range to another.     

Horizontal coherence of low-frequency fixed-path sound in a continental shelf region with internal-wave activity

Sound at 85 to 450 Hz propagating in approximately 80-m depth water from fixed sources to a joint horizontal/vertical line array (HLA/VLA) is analyzed. The data are from a continental shelf area east of Delaware Bay (USA) populated with tidally generated long- and short-wavelength internal waves. Sound paths are 19 km in the along-shore (along internal-wave crest) direction and 30 km in the cross-shore direction. Spatial statistics of HLA arrivals are computed as functions of beam steering angle and time. These include array gain, horizontally lagged spatial correlation function, and coherent beam power. These quantities vary widely in magnitude, and vary over a broad range of time scales. For example, correlation scale can change rapidly from forty to five wavelengths, and correlation-scale behavior is anisotropic. In addition, the vertical array can be used to predict correlation expected for adiabatic propagation with cylindrical symmetry, forming a benchmark. Observed variations are in concert with internal-wave activity. Temporal variations of three coherence measures, horizontal correlation length, array gain, and ratio of actual correlation length to predicted adiabatic-mode correlation length, are very strong, varying by almost a factor of ten as internal waves pass.     

Biochemical Applications of Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy,edited by Vladislav V. Yakovlev

A survey is made of some of the major researches on ocean waves of the last 25 years. Starting with the introduction of the wave spectrum by Barber and Ursell and their observations of the decrease in period of swell waves arriving on the Cornish coast, which established the predominant linearity of the propagation of storm-generated waves across the ocean, we proceed to the more precise and ambitious experiments in the Pacific by Munk, Snodgrass and others. The latter work identified the arrival in California of waves generated in the Indian Ocean, nearly half-way round the world, and developed into a detailed study of the attenuation of swell as it travels along a great circle path from beyond New Zealand to Alaska. A summary is given of some basic aspects of the new theory of nonlinear scattering in water waves, and finally, instrumental techniques and theory involved in the study of waves in the North Atlantic Ocean for forecasting purposes are reviewed in simple terms.     

Nonlinear effects in trapped modes of standing waves on the surface of shallow water

It was shown that traveling waves may coexist with standing waves in a planar infinitely long channel filled by ideal liquid with a free surface. The standing waves are localized near a dynamic inclusion—a massive die on an elastic base. The amplitude of the traveling waves may be turned to zero by appropriately selecting the vibration frequency of the die. The standing waves arise because the vibration eigenfrequencies have a mixed spectrum; that is, the discrete and continuous spectra superpose. Nonlinear effects were observed for the first time when standing waves form in shallow water. In particular, a relationship between the die weight necessary to excite trapped modes, die dimensions, and vibration frequency was derived. It was shown that the nonlinear effects cause double-frequency traveling waves with amplitudes of the next order of smallness. These traveling waves vanish if the die geometry is properly chosen, as for the waves of the zeroth order.     

The sensitivity of monitoring by measuring the frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern

The sensitivity of the remote method of reconstructing the frequency spectrum of a water medium perturbation from the measured frequency shifts of the sound field interference peaks is investigated. On the basis of the Rayleigh criterion, an expression is derived for estimating the minimal frequency shift that allows the resolution of two neighboring peaks. The detection sensitivity for the sound velocity fluctuations caused by the time variability of the medium along the track is estimated. Results of computations for a perturbation in the form of background internal waves are presented.