Comment on ’’Experimental observation of internal solitary waves in a stratified fluid’’

Observation of near-critical reflection of internal waves in a stably stratified fluid

Internal Waves and Boundary Layers in a Density-stratified Fluid

Internal tides, generated in the density-stratified ocean by the oscillation of the barotropic tide over bottom topography, play a crucial role in the energy balance of the Earth–Moon system [1]. This has led to a recent revival of the classical topic of internal gravity wave generation by oscillating bodies. Wave energy dissipates owing to wave breaking and suband superharmonic excitation, at ...

Large-amplitude internal solitary waves in a two-fluid model

We compute solitary wave solutions of a Hamiltonian model for large-amplitude long internal waves in a two-layer stratification. Computations are performed for values of the density and depth ratios close to oceanic conditions, and comparisons are made with solutions of both weakly and fully nonlinear models. It is shown that characteristic features of highly nonlinear solitary waves such as br...

Shoaling internal solitary waves

[1] The evolution and breaking of internal solitary waves in a shallow upper layer as they approach a constant bottom slope is examined through laboratory experiments. The waves are launched in a two-layer fluid through the standard lock-release method. In most experiments, the wave amplitude is significantly larger than the depth of the shallow upper layer so that they are not well described b...

Internal Solitary Waves

The basic theory of internal solitary waves is reviewed, with the main emphasis on applications to the many observations of such waves in shallow coastal seas, fjords, lakes and in the atmospheric boundary layer. Commencing with the equations of motion for an inviscid, incompressible density-stratified fluid, we describe asymptotic reductions to model long-wave equations, including the well-kno...