The Disintegration (or Not) of the Nonlinear Internal Tide

The objectives are to use a combination of theoretical and numerical models to study the evolution of the internal tide and its possible disintegration into internal solitary waves. A central aspect of this work is to explore the role of rotation in the process. Rotation permits the presence of periodic, nonlinear inertia-gravity waves (i.e., the tide) that can act as attractors and arrest the steepening of the internal tide, and hence affect the production of the shorter solitary-like waves (Gerkema, 1996). In light of recent observations of strongly nonlinear internal solitary waves in the South China Sea (e.g. Duda et al, 2004; Ramp et al., 2004) and numerous other locations, an important objective is to allow for fully nonlinear waves. A further objective is to test these theories and models with observations obtained from the NLIWI South China Sea DRI in order to improve the ability to predict the arrival of large-amplitude internal solitary waves.