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Secondary generation of breaking internal waves in confined basins by gravity currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2021

Yukinobu Tanimoto Open the ORCID record for Yukinobu Tanimoto [Opens in a new window] ,
Nicholas T. Ouellette Open the ORCID record for Nicholas T. Ouellette [Opens in a new window]  and
Jeffrey R. Koseff Open the ORCID record for Jeffrey R. Koseff [Opens in a new window]
Yukinobu Tanimoto*
Affiliation:
The Bob and Norma Street Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Nicholas T. Ouellette
Affiliation:
The Bob and Norma Street Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Jeffrey R. Koseff
Affiliation:
The Bob and Norma Street Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

In confined stratified basins, wind forcing is an important mechanism responsible for the onset and generation of internal waves and seiches. Previous observations have also found that gravity currents in stratified environments can also initiate internal waves. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments to investigate the generation of internal motions due to such dense gravity currents on an incline entering a two-layer stratification, focusing in particular on the interaction between the onset of internal motions and topography and diapycnal mixing due to breaking internal waves. The baroclinic response of the ambient stratification to the gravity current is found to be analogous to a system forced by a surface wind stress, and the response as characterized by a Wedderburn-like number was found to be linearly proportional to the initial gravity current Richardson number. The generated internal motions are characterized as having a low-frequency internal surge and higher-frequency progressive internal waves. The overall mixing efficiency of the breaking internal wave was calculated and found to be low compared with similar previous studies.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currents Geophysical and Geological Flows: Internal waves Geophysical and Geological Flows: Stratified flows
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 917 , 25 June 2021 , A49
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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