Rapid Topographic Scatter of Near-Inertial Waves Generated by Storms

Abstract

Internal waves propagate on the ocean’s stratification, carrying energy and redistributing momentum through the ocean. When internal waves break, they contribute to diapycnal mixing in the ocean interior, but this breaking behavior depends upon the scale of the waves. Low-mode internal waves have larger horizontal and vertical scales and thus break less readily than higher-mode waves. The scattering of internal waves by topography is an important mechanism in transferring internal wave energy to smaller scales that are more conducive to wave-breaking and mixing processes. In this study, we propose and investigate a mechanism in which storm-generated low-mode internal waves scatter at topogra..