Premium
Where large deep‐ocean waves break
Author(s) -
Haren Hans,
Cimatoribus Andrea,
Gostiaux Louis
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl063329
Subject(s) - seamount , turbulence , internal tide , geology , internal wave , breaking wave , water column , oceanography , geophysics , meteorology , wave propagation , physics , optics
Underwater topography like seamounts causes the breaking of large “internal waves” with associated turbulent mixing strongly affecting the redistribution of sediment. Here ocean turbulence is characterized and quantified in the lowest 100 m of the water column at three nearby sites above the slope of a deep‐ocean seamount. Moored high‐resolution temperature sensors show very different turbulence generation mechanisms over 3 and 5 km horizontal separation distances. At the steepest slope, turbulence was 100 times more energetic than at the shallowest slope where turbulence was still 10 times more energetic than found in the open ocean, away from topography. The turbulence on this extensive slope is caused by slope steepness and nonlinear wave evolution, but not by bottom‐friction, “critical” internal tide reflection or lee wave generation.