Abstract
Abstract A pilot study in Knight Inlet, British Columbia has yielded measurements of large amplitude, nonlinear internal waves in the strongly stratified surface layer. A train of several waves with amplitudes exceeding 10 meters and periods of a few minutes, passed the vessel on each flood tide. Observations with profiling and fixed depth instruments showed that the waves travelled in a strongly sheared flow. The results are interpreted using Benjamin's (1967) approximate model for nonlinear waves in deep fluids, suitably modified to allow for shear. This model then provides the basis for an examination of conditions leading to shear flow instability. A solution to the eigenvalue problem for exponential stratification and shear is used to examine the interaction of the waves with the background flow; critical amplitudes corresponding to conditions of marginal stability are found to be comparable to those observed in Knight Inlet. The waves are discussed in terms of their likely contribution to vertical exchange processes in fjords.
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