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Internal tide coherence and decay over a wide shelf sea
Author(s) -
Inall Mark,
Aleynik Dmitry,
Boyd Tim,
Palmer Matthew,
Sharples Jonathan
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1029/2011gl049943
Subject(s) - internal tide , continental shelf , geology , hydrography , wavelength , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , oceanography , internal wave , physics , optics , quantum mechanics
A quasi‐synoptic hydrography and velocity section is used to determine the structure and the decay rate of the internal tide (IT) across the broad continental shelf of the Celtic Sea. In these observations the IT is coherent over more than 170 km, about five wavelengths, with an estimated shoreward energy decay scale of 42 km. The inferred IT wavelength‐averaged dissipation rate near the shelf edge is estimated as 2.08 × 10 −7 Wkg −1 , in close agreement with tidally‐ and vertically‐averaged measurements from the region. These results provide the first in situ evidence of IT coherence over many wavelengths in a shelf sea.