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Bispectra of internal waves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2006

C. H. Mccomas  and
M. G. Briscoe
C. H. Mccomas
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
M. G. Briscoe
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
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Abstract

This note summarizes a detailed numerical computation of bispectra arising from weak nonlinear resonant interactions of internal waves whose energies are represented by the Garrett & Munk (1975) model spectrum. Two spectra are computed – the bispectrum of power and the auto-bispectrum of vertical displacement. These are chosen because the first is the most informative and the second is easy to observe. The numerical computations indicate that the level of the bispectral signal is much too low to be detected by any reasonable observational programme. Even more disturbing, bispectra of Eulerian variables are subject to a kinematic contamination causing a significant bispectral level which can easily be misinterpreted as a nonlinear interaction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 97 , Issue 1 , 11 March 1980 , pp. 205 - 213
Copyright
© 1980 Cambridge University Press

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