Effect of rotation on internal solitary waves

User-Project Objectives

Summary:

Internal solitary waves of large amplitudes are ubiquitous in the coastal ocean, and there have been many observations, numerical simulations and analytical studies. In this oceanic context, one key issue concerning their long-time behaviour is the role of the background earth’s rotation. Although it has been known for some time that such rotation tends to convert internal solitary waves into trailing inertial-gravity waves (see the pioneering experimental work of Renouard and Germain (1994), and the review by Grimshaw et al (1998a) for instance), the time-scale for this process and the eventual wave structure is not well understood. But recently, some numerical simulations by Helfrich (2007) for a two-layer model, and by Grimshaw and Helfrich (2008) for a weakly nonlinear model, have suggested that the emergence of an wave packet with a distinctive carrier wavenumber (associated with the maximum allowed group velocity) and envelope solitary wave structure. Our purpose is to explore this process experimentally, supported by further numerical simulations. Click here for further information about this project on the CNRS website.

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