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

提出的工作是一个综合的理论和观测的海洋内波场。所提出的工作是一项真正的合作努力：通过分析海洋观测结果，为内波动力学的新理论描述奠定基础。提出的理论工作包括使用一种新颖的内波场哈密顿形式，最近由pi开发。这已经被证明包括著名的加勒特-蒙克光谱的高频成分，作为一个精确的统计平稳的解决方案，以及解释许多观测到的光谱变化。建议在波浪湍流和渐近分析的基础上发展一个选择原则，以确定这种变率的每个海洋实现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起来。海洋深渊中的水比表面的水密度大。这种密度分层允许在海洋内部产生一类波，称为内波。这些波表现为密度表面的扭曲，它们的波状特性是由于重力的恢复力。内波是海洋动力学的主要参与者之一，因为它们可以长距离传播，相互作用，并与海洋中的其他主要参与者相互作用，如涡度和洋流，内波破碎和混合水。在这种复杂的动力学过程中，内波重新分配了海洋中的质量、动量、能量和示踪剂。了解内波是了解气候变化的关键因素，特别是在很长一段时间内。这个谜题中最困难的部分是内波的相互作用。研究人员通过证明存在一个无限族的统计平稳解的内波谱，其中著名的Garrett和Munkspectrum是一个成员，已经对非线性内波相互作用的理解做出了重大贡献。现在，他们提议调查这个无限大家庭中的特定成员是否比其他成员更有可能出现这种情况，并量化内波与海洋中其他关键成员相互作用的影响。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的缺失部分做出贡献。

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.