Wave motions in a stably-neutrally stratified ocean

Abstract

Wave spectrum of rotating stably-neutrally stratified fluid consisting of the stably stratified upper layer and the homogeneous lower one is studied. The density and other fields are assumed to be continuous at the interface between the layers. The study does not use the traditional (when the horizontal component of the Earth’s rotation is neglected) and hydrostatic approximations. The spectrum is rather complicated and consists of the super-inertial internal waves, the sub-inertial gyroscopic waves, and the sub- and super-inertial internal inertio-gravity waves. In the long-wave approximation the internal and internal inertio-gravity waves span both the layers, whereas the gyroscopic waves are localized in the lower layer and are close to the inertial oscillations. The sub-inertial wave motions observed in the nearly barotropic deep Western Mediterranean can be related to the gyroscopic waves.