Publication Date:
2013-12-27
Description:
[1] Current profiles are examined for significant evidence of nonlinear energy transfers from the M 2 internal tide to diurnal waves. The 6 month records, unlike shorter records, produce well-resolved velocity and shear spectra that consistently exhibit maxima at the diurnal tides O 1 and K 1 , with a minimum at the intermediate M 2 subharmonic, M 2 /2. The ratio of M 2 /2 to M 2 velocity spectra is quantified, providing a needed modeling benchmark. Bispectra and bicoherences imply a negligible [-M 2 /2, -M 2 /2, -M 2 ] triad interaction, but possibly a significant interaction for the [-O 1 , -K 1 , -M 2 ] triad. Numerical simulations, however, indicate that O 1 and K 1 signals are from internal tides. Tests with synthetic data, linear tides plus random noise, reveal that bispectrum and bicoherence estimators can yield significant values, thus misleading results. Therefore, resolving the diurnal tides from M 2 /2 is essential to meaningfully assess nonlinear transfer of energy from M 2 to diurnal waves.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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