Gravity waves are waves for which gravity acts as the restoring force. Internal gravity waves are waves that exist because of stratification—e.g., the differences in density between lighter waters in the upper ocean and heavier waters in the deep ocean. When parcels oscillate up-and-down in a stratified fluid, there is a gravitational restoring force due to the differences in density between fluids at different vertical levels. Internal tides are internal gravity waves with tidal frequencies. The internal gravity wave continuum consists of gravity waves with supertidal frequencies e.g., frequencies that are greater than the tidal frequency.

Our group has been involved in several key steps on the path towards global modeling of internal tides and the internal gravity wave continuum. We published the first global simulations of internal tides, the first high-resolution global simulations with concurrent atmospheric and tidal forcing, the first demonstration that these concurrently forced models contain a partially resolved supertidal internal gravity wave continuum, the first regional simulations forced with remotely propagating internal waves at their lateral boundaries, the first demonstration that the vertical profiles of internal wave dissipation in internal wave models resemble profiles seen in fine structure estimates made from observations, and the first demonstration that ocean forecast models have phase-accurate internal tides.

Our research focuses on the use of numerical models to better understand the dynamics and energy budgets of both wind- and tidally-forced flows in the ocean.

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