| dc.contributor.author | Gilbert, Denis. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:35:28Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1990 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINN64583 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/55233 | |
| dc.description | When internal waves reflect off a sloping bottom, the angle which the incident and reflected wave rays make with respect to the horizontal is preserved. Close to the critical frequency $w\sb{c}$, for which the wave ray slope equals the bottom slope, the wavenumber, energy density, and shear of the incident waves are greatly amplified upon reflection. Theoretical estimates of the rate of energy dissipation that could result from the enhanced shear of the reflected waves are presented. They are compared with the average energy dissipation rate that would be required if boundary mixing accounted for the inferred vertical eddy diffusivity of the ocean interior, and are found to be within the right order of magnitude, although somewhat too low. | en_US |
| dc.description | For internal waves incident on a bottom of non-uniform slope, it is argued that one is less likely to observe energy enhancement at the critical frequency above concave than above convex topography. Historical current meter data from the Scotian Rise and Slope, which is mostly concave, are used to test this as well as the critical reflection hypothesis. Some evidence of near-bottom energy enhancement at $w\sb{c} \approx\ f$ was found at a few moorings, and evidence for a cross-isobath alignment of motions and near-bottom energy enhancement over a broad range of frequencies was found at other moorings where $w\sb{c} \approx\ M\sb2$. | en_US |
| dc.description | Finally, current meter data from 4$\sp\circ$N, at a location where Antarctic Bottom Water enters the Northwest Atlantic Basin, are examined in order to determine whether the energetic 3-4 day motions that are observed there can be attributed to critical internal wave reflection. An alternative explanation of these motions in terms of bottom-trapped waves is also examined. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1990. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Physical Oceanography. | en_US |
| dc.title | Theory and observations of internal wave reflection off sloping topography. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
