Abstract
The practicality of obtaining significant information about profiles of Brunt‐Väisälä frequency from surface observations of internal waves is investigated. The inversion method investigated uses a three‐dimensional Fourier transform (two spatial and one temporal) to détermine the dispersion relations of the internal‐wave modes and Abel transforms to estimate those aspects of the Brunt‐Väisälä frequency profile to which internal‐wave dispersion relations are sensitive. If classical Fourier transforms are used to estimate the modal dispersion relations, observations over a 200‐km square region for 17 hours would be necessary to obtain about a 15% error for one profile. However, if nonlinear methods, such as maximum entropy, could be extended to three dimensions, it might be practical to obtain significant information about profiles of Brunt‐Väisälä frequency by observing a 40‐km square region for only 3 hours. This technique cannot be used when there are no significant surface manifestations of internal waves, such as during rough seas or when a significant mixed layer is present. The ambiguity of the inversion is increased when the Brunt‐Väisälä frequency profile has multiple maxima.
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