Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Desaubies, Yves
• Smith, Woollcott K.

Titel

Statistics of Richardson Number and Instability in Oceanic Internal Waves

Ist Teil von

• Journal of physical oceanography, 1982-01, Vol.12 (11), p.1245-1259

Erscheinungsjahr

1982

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The probability density function (pdf) of Richardson number in a Gaussian internal-wave field is derived. It is found to compare well with available data. The pdf depends on only parameter lambda , the rms strain in the field, which is very weakly dependent on depth if at all. The probability Ri < 0.25 is a very sensitive function of lambda , which is about lambda approximately equals 0.5 in the ocean. Numerical simulations of vertical profiles Ri(z) are calculated based on a set of stochastic differential equations. The statistics of the vertical distributions of regions where Ri < 0.25 is investigated and a simplified mixing model based on the stochastic differential equations is derived. We conclude that shear instability is a significant factor in the dissipation of internal waves.