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Modelling Internal Solitary Waves in the Coastal Ocean

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Abstract

In the coastal oceans, the interaction of currents (such as the barotropic tide) with topography can generate large-amplitude, horizontally propagating internal solitary waves. These waves often occur in regions where the waveguide properties vary in the direction of propagation. We consider the modelling of these waves by nonlinear evolution equations of the Korteweg–de Vries type with variable coefficients, and we describe how these models are used to describe the shoaling of internal solitary waves over the continental shelf and slope. The theories are compared with various numerical simulations.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from INTAS project, 06-1000013-9236, and from RFBR, 06-05-64232, for Talipova.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK

    Roger Grimshaw

  2. Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    Efim Pelinovsky & Tatiana Talipova

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  1. Roger Grimshaw
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  2. Efim Pelinovsky
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  3. Tatiana Talipova
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Correspondence to Roger Grimshaw.

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Grimshaw, R., Pelinovsky, E. & Talipova, T. Modelling Internal Solitary Waves in the Coastal Ocean. Surv Geophys 28, 273–298 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-007-9020-0

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