CMG Collabortative Research: The Oceanic Internal Wave Energy Spectrum - Synthesis of Theory and Observations

所提出的努力是海洋内波场的理论和观测的综合。 所提出的工作是一个真正的合作努力：海洋观测的分析，以地面真理的内部波动动力学的新理论描述。 理论工作提出了一种新的Hamilton形式主义的内部波场，最近开发的PI的使用。这已经被证明包括了著名的Garret-Munk频谱的高频分量作为一个精确的统计稳定的解决方案，以及占大部分观察到的光谱变化。建议发展选择原则，基于波湍流和渐近分析的组合，以确定这种变化的每个海洋实现是如何与强迫和耗散的局部性质以及科里奥利效应的纬度依赖性联系在一起的。 这种密度分层使得海洋内部存在一类波，称为内波。这些波表现为密度面的扭曲，它们的波动特性是由于重力的恢复力。 内波是海洋动力学中的主要参与者之一，因为它们可以在大距离上传播，相互作用以及海洋中的其他主要参与者，如涡量和海流，内波破碎并混合水。内波参与了这一复杂的动力学过程，它会重新分配海洋中的质量、动量、能量和示踪物。了解内波是了解气候变化的关键因素，特别是在长时间内。 这个难题中最困难的部分是内波的相互作用。 通过证明内波谱存在无穷族统计定态解，著名的加勒特谱和芒克谱就是其中的一员，这对理解非线性内波相互作用已经做出了重大贡献。 现在，他们打算调查这个无限家族中的特定成员是否比其他成员更有可能，并量化内波与海洋中其他关键角色相互作用的影响。 这项研究将得到正在进行的海洋数据集分析的支持，并将为海洋混合、天气和最终气候理论提供关键的缺失成分。

The proposed effort is a synthesis of theory and observations of theoceanic internal wavefield. The work proposed is a trulycollaborative effort: the analysis of oceanic observations to groundtruth new theoretical descriptions of internal wave dynamics. Thetheoretical work proposed involves the use of a novel Hamiltonianformalism for the internal wave field, recently developed by thePI's. This has already been shown to include the high--frequencycomponent of the celebrated Garret--Munk spectrum as an exactstatistically stationary solution, as well as to account for much ofthe observed spectral variability. It is proposed to develop aselection principle, based on a combination of wave turbulence andasymptotic analysis, to determine how each oceanic realization of thisvariability is tied to the local nature of the forcing anddissipation, as well as to the latitude dependence of the Coriolis effect.Water in the ocean abyss is denser than water at the surface. Thisdensity stratification permits a class of waves within the oceaninterior, called internal waves. These waves are apparent as thedistortion of density surfaces, and their wave-like properties are dueto the restoring force of gravity. Internal waves are one of themajor player in ocean dynamics, as they can propagate over bigdistances, interact with each other and other major players in theocean, like vorticity and currents, internal waves break and mixwater. While involved in this complex dynamics, internal wavesredistribute mass, momentum, energy and tracers in the ocean.Understanding internal waves is a key element to understanding climatevariability, especially over long time periods. The most difficultpiece of this puzzle is the interaction of internal waves. The investigatorshave already contributed significantly to the understanding ofnonlinear internal wave interactions by demonstrating the existence ofan infinite family of statistically stationary solutions for theinternal wave spectrum, of which the celebrated Garrett and Munkspectrum is a member. Now they propose to investigate whetherparticular members of this infinite family are more likely thanothers, as well as quantify the effects of interaction of internalwaves with other key players in the ocean. This research will beaided by the ongoing analysis of oceanic data sets and will contributecrucial missing components to the theory of ocean mixing, weather and,ultimately, climate.