Numerical solution of the boundary value problem for inertia-gravity internal waves

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical calculation of the boundary value problem for the equation of free internal inertia-gravity waves in an unbounded basin of constant depth in the Boussinesq approximation and the presence of a two-dimensional vertically inhomogeneous flow. The boundary value problem for the vertical velocity amplitude has complex coefficients and is solved both numerically and by perturbation theory. Using the example of calculating the decrement of attenuation of internal waves and momentum wave flows, it is shown that the exact numerical calculation gives significantly better estimates in comparison with the perturbation method. In particular, at minimum divergence in the dispersion curves for both calculation methods, the imaginary part of the wave frequency, interpreted as the decrement of attenuation, can differ by two or three orders of magnitude. Vertical wave momentum fluxes are comparable to turbulent ones and may exceed them, with results obtained by the numerical method being almost an order of magnitude smaller than those calculated by the perturbation theory method.