The interaction of internal waves with an unsteady non-uniform current

Abstract

On the assumptions of incompressibility, and negligible thermal conduction, salinity diffusion and viscosity, simple expressions are derived for the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy when internal waves encounter an unsteady non-uniform current. These expressions of conservation equations are valid for all kinds of internal waves without regard to their different characteristics. From the dynamical conservation equations, we find that a stress-like term, the ‘excess momentum flux tensor’, plays an important role in the interaction between internal waves and an unsteady non-uniform current. Furthermore, it is deduced from the energy balance equation that, in the encounter of interfacial waves with a steady non-uniform current in a two-liquid system, the waves are amplified in an adverse current but suppressed in an advancing current as a result of interaction of the waves with the current. This conclusion may explain the large amplitudes sometimes observed in internal waves near the confluence of currents and near fronts at the thermocline, the region in the ocean where the density gradient is a maximum.