Abstract
Abstract A large-eddy simulation (LES) model is developed and employed to study the interactions among turbulent and internal gravity wave motions in a uniformly stratified fluid at oceanic space and time scales. The decay of a random initial energy spectrum is simulated in a triply periodic domain (L=10 m) by solving the full nonlinear, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations using pseudospectral techniques and a numerical resolution of 643 modes. The subgrid scale (SGS) fluxes are parameterized using the Smargorinsky SGS flux parameterization. Three experiments were performed with mean buoyancy frequencies (N) of 1, 3, and 10 cph for a period of 10 buoyancy times (Nt). The temporal evolution of the domain-averaged statistics is used to examine the nature of decaying stratified turbulence. Initially (0≤Nt≤2), energy levels rapidly decay as the spectral energy distributions evolve toward more isotropic forms. During this time, the buoyancy flux (BF) remains negative indicating a conversion of kinetic to...
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