Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T06:29:47.837Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The wave instability pathway to turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2013

Bruce R. Sutherland*
Affiliation:
Departments of Physics and of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada
*
Email address for correspondence: bruce.sutherland@ualberta.ca
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

One way that large-scale oceanic internal waves transfer their energy to small-scale mixing is through parametric subharmonic instability (PSI). But there is a disconnect between theory, which assumes the waves are periodic in space and time, and reality, in which waves are transient and localized. The innovative laboratory experiments and analysis techniques of Bourget et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 723, 2013, pp. 1–20) show that theory can be applied to interpret the generation of subharmonic disturbances from a quasi-monochromatic wave beam. Their methodology and results open up new avenues of investigation into PSI through experiments, simulations and observations.

Type
Focus on Fluids
Copyright
©2013 Cambridge University Press 

References

Alford, M. H. 2008 Observations of parametric subharmonic instability of the diurnal internal tide in the South China Sea. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L15602.Google Scholar
Benielli, D. & Sommeria, J. 1998 Excitation and breaking of internal gravity waves by parametric instability. J. Fluid Mech. 374, 117144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourget, B., Dauxois, T., Joubaud, S. & Odier, P. 2013 Experimental study of parametric subharmonic instability for internal plane waves. J. Fluid Mech 723, 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. A. & Sutherland, B. R. 2010 Generation, propagation and breaking of an internal wave beam. Phys. Fluids 22, 076601.Google Scholar
Dalziel, S. B., Hughes, G. O. & Sutherland, B. R. 2000 Whole field density measurements. Exp. Fluids 28, 322335.Google Scholar
Gostiaux, L., Didelle, H., Mercier, S. & Dauxois, T. 2007 A novel internal waves generator. Exp. Fluids 42, 123130.Google Scholar
Hasselmann, K. 1962 On the nonlinear energy transfer in a gravity wave spectrum. Part 1. J. Fluid Mech. 12, 481500.Google Scholar
Lombard, P. N. & Riley, J. J. 1996 Instability and breakdown of internal gravity waves. I. Linear stability analysis. Phys. Fluids 8, 32713287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEwan, A. D. & Plumb, R. A. 1977 Off-resonant amplification of finite internal wave packets. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans 2, 83105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercier, M. J., Garnier, N. B. & Dauxois, T. 2008 Reflection and diffraction of internal waves analysed with the Hilbert transform. Phys. Fluids 20, 086601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munk, W. H. & Wunsch, C. 1998 Abyssal recipes II: energetics of tidal and wind mixing. Deep-Sea Res. 45, 19772010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peacock, T., Mercier, M. J., Didelle, H., Viboud, S. & Dauxois, T. 2009 A laboratory study of low-mode internal tide scattering by finite-amplitude topography. Phys. Fluids 21, 121702.Google Scholar
Sutherland, B. R. & Linden, P. F. 2002 Internal wave excitation by a vertically oscillating elliptical cylinder. Phys. Fluids 14, 721731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar