Process Studies of Internal Tide Generation and Dissipation

I have applied 2D and 3D idealized and regional MITgcm and ROMS models to study tidal internal wave generation and breaking at steep topography in the South China Sea and the Mascarene ridge, among others.

As part of the ONR funded Internal Waves in Straits Experiment (IWISE) I have explored dissipation and mixing at the double ridge in Luzon Strait while at Princeton University. The dissipation at the ridges is greatly affected by the baroclinic wave fields generated at the opposite ridge. The movie above show the zonal baroclinic currents (top panel) and dissipation (bottom panel) at the West Ridge for half a diurnal spring tidal cycle. The dissipation in the overturns is computed using Thorpe sorting (Klymak et al 2010). The eastward barotropic flow causes a large lee wave with overturns and upslope propagating bores.

At UCLA my South China Sea research has focused "On the generation and evolution of nonlinear internal waves in the South China Sea" using the ROMS model. The paper describes the generation and evolution of internal waves in the SCS due to asymmetric modulated tidal forcing. In a subsequent article I analyze the east-west asymmetry in solitons from Luzon Strait due to bathymetry, modulated tides and the Kuroshio. The figure below shows baroclinic along channel velocity and some isotherms. Smaller solitons occur to the east of the ridge due to thermocline deepening and a deeper ocean of 5750 m.