Propagation of Internal Waves Generated by Localized Convection

When a stably-stratified fluid lays adjacent to a convective region, turbulent convection can excite internal gravity waves. Here we study the propagation of convectively excited waves to determine their amplitude and effects far from the generation region. We present a series of simplified analytical calculations that suggest how to use an eigenvector decomposition to efficiently model the wave propagation. We compare the results of this eigenvector decomposition to 2D numerical simulations. The eigenvector decomposition correctly describes the wave propagation, except for strongly damped waves, which can be modeled with a WKB approach. Put together, our calculations give robust predictions for the propagation of convectively-generated internal waves.