Relaxation processes for internal waves in mesoscale flow

Abstract

A dynamical "test-wave" model has been developed to study transport phenomena within oceanic internal wave fields. This model is extended here to describe effects of a mesoscale flow field on internal wave transport. Previous work with weak-interaction perturbation theory has suggested a substantial enhancement due to mesoscale currents. Extension to the strong-interaction regime in the present paper suggests a relatively small effect due to mesoscale interactions.