Perturbation Theory for the Solitary Wave Solutions to a Sasa‐Satsuma Model Describing Nonlinear Internal Waves in a Continuously Stratified Fluid

The adiabatic evolution of perturbed solitary wave solutions to an extended Sasa‐Satsuma (or vector‐valued modified Korteweg–de Vries) model governing nonlinear internal gravity propagation in a continuously stratified fluid is considered. The transport equations describing the evolution of the solitary wave parameters are determined by a direct multiple‐scale asymptotic expansion and independently by phase‐averaged conservation relations for an arbitrary perturbation. As an example, the adiabatic evolution associated with a dissipative perturbation is explicitly determined. Unlike the case with the dissipatively perturbed modified Korteweg–de Vries equation, the adiabatic asymptotic expansion for the Sasa‐Satsuma model considered here is not exponentially nonuniform and no shelf region emerges in the lee‐side of the propagating solitary wave.