CURRENT INDUCED BY BREAKING OF INTERNAL KELVIN WAVE ON A UNIFORM SLOPE

Abstract

This paper describes influence of internal Kelvin wave breaking over a uniform slope on mass transport and mixing. A rotating tank, whose length and width are 6 m and 0.4 m, was used to investigate fundamental characteristics of internal Kelvin waves with and without a uniform slope. The theoretical solution of internal Kelvin waves including the friction effect was derived, which agrees with the laboratory experiment results. Energy dissipation due to the friction effect was evaluated using the viscous boundary theory, which reveals that the rate of energy dissipation is larger in the case with the Coriolis effect rather than without the Coriolis effect. Density flux measurements revealed that cyclonic circulation appears when internal Kelvin waves propagate and break over a uniform slope.