Observation of near-critical reflection of internal waves 

in a stably stratified fluid

T. Dauxois, A. Didier, and E. Falcon

  Laboratoire de Physique, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon,
    46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France

Reference:

Physics of Fluids 16,  1936-1941 (2004)

Abstract:

An experimental study is reported of the near-critical reflection of internal gravity waves over sloping topography in a stratified fluid.  An overturning instability close to the slope and triggering the boundary-mixing process is observed and characterized. These observations are found in good agreement with a recent nonlinear theory.


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