Numerical Simulation of Internal Wave Attractors in Horizontally Elongated Domains with Sloping Boundaries

Abstract

Global tides create continuous input of mechanical energy to the ocean, and produce inertia-gravity waves which change the processes of vertical mixing, affect background stratification, create mean and zonal currents. Internal and inertial wave attractors may arise in natural ocean and coastal topography, and due to energy accumulation they produce turbulence or increase turbulence intensity even for moderate values of the input energy. Previous studies of internal wave attractors at a laboratory scale were concerned mostly with basins of comparable vertical and horizontal dimensions, while in ocean we typically deal with horizontally elongated geometries and low ratios between the tidal and buoyancy frequencies. In this work we describe laminar and turbulent regimes of internal wave attractors in domains with large aspect ratio subject to forcing at low non-dimensional frequency.