Breaking characteristics of large amplitude internal solitary waves

内孤立波是地球大气和海洋中普遍存在的现象。特别是，它们是沿海海洋、峡湾、湖泊和大气边界层的分层流中普遍出现的特征。它们是在稳定分层流体中沿沿着密度界面传播的永久形式的有限振幅波。在海洋中，它们是由潮汐流穿过海底山脊或大陆架产生的，或者是当轻或重的水团被风沿着复杂的海岸地形困住后放松时产生的。通常，波是高度非线性的，并且可以达到非常大的振幅。打破ISW可能会导致显着的垂直混合环境中，他们的传播。它们是混合、湍流以及质量和动量转移的重要来源。在物理海洋学中，最热门的辩论问题之一是ISWs在沿海海洋总体混合中的作用-这一过程反过来又对全球海洋环流，热传输和气候建模产生影响。在近海石油勘探、生产和海底储存活动正在进行的沿海和海洋区域，破碎和非破碎ISW对这些设施的安装和操作都构成重大危险。此外，内波引起的混合使营养物和溶解气体重新分布，从而影响海洋的生物生产力。要了解在这些情况下的ISW的行为，这是至关重要的，导致打破和随后产生的动荡的进化过程得到更好的理解。本计画将探讨ISW之稳定性及后续波浪诱导流。结合理论和实验室参数建模研究。

Internal solitary waves (ISWs) are ubiquitous features in the Earth's atmosphere and ocean. In particular, they are a commonly occurring feature in the stratified flows of coastal seas, fjords, lakes and the atmospheric boundary layer. They are finite-amplitude waves of permanent form that propagate along density interfaces in stably-stratified fluids. In the ocean they are generated by tidal flows across sub-sea ridges or continental shelves, or when pools of light or heavy water masses relax, having been trapped by the wind along complex coastal topographies. Typically, the waves are highly nonlinear and may attain very large amplitudes. Breaking ISWs can result in significant vertical mixing in the environment in which they propagate. They are an important source of mixing, turbulence and mass and momentum transfer. In physical oceanography, one of the most topical issues of debate is the role of ISWs on the overall mixing of coastal oceans - a process that, in turn, has implications for global ocean circulation, heat transport and climate modelling. In coastal and oceanic regions where offshore petroleum exploration, production and sub-sea storage activities are in progress, both breaking and non-breaking ISWs present significant hazards to the installation and operation of such facilities. In addition, mixing induced by internal waves redistributes nutrients and dissolved gases, thus affecting biological productivity in the oceans. To understand the behaviour of ISWs in these contexts, it is imperative that the evolutionary processes that lead to breaking and the subsequent generation of turbulence are better understood. This proposal will investigate the stability and subsequent wave induced flow of ISWs. A combined theoretical and laboratory parametric modelling study is proposed.