Internal Wave Generation by Multiple Peak Topographies

Tidal flow over topography in the ocean is a common method of internal wave generation. As more dense fluid is moved up over topography, an oscillation is initiated that propagates away from the source. The local density gradient as well as the topography shape define the amplitude and wavelengths in the generated internal wave field. For uniform or simple topographic shapes these relationships are well known. However, for more complex shapes these relationships have not been thoroughly investigated. This work focuses on characterizing the impact of multiple Gaussian peaks on topography, compared with a single peak. Specifically, the tidally generated internal wavefield will be characterized. Experiments exploring these waves were run using topographies with peak counts ranging from one to six where all peaks were defined by Gaussian profiles. The generated internal wavefield is defined by both the overall topography length and the smaller peaks present on top of the topography. As the number of peaks increases, the kinetic energy in the component of the wavefield generated by peaks decreases.