NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA 2689

Decay Rates of Internal Tides Estimated by an Improved

Wave–Wave Interaction Analysis

YOHEI ONUKI
Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, Japan

TOSHIYUKI HIBIYA
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science,
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

(Manuscript received 31 December 2017, in final form 1 September 2018)

ABSTRACT

Recent numerical and observational studies have reported that resonant wave–wave interaction
may be a crucial process for the energy loss of internal tides and the associated vertical water mixing in
the midlatitude deep ocean. Special attention has been directed to the remarkable latitudinal de-
pendence of the resonant interaction intensity; semidiurnal internal tides promptly lose their energy to
near-inertial motions through parametric subharmonic instability equatorward of the critical latitudes
298N/S, where half the tidal frequency coincides with the local inertial frequency. This feature contra-
dicts the classical theoretical prediction that resonant wave–wave interaction does not play a major role
in the tidal energy loss in the open ocean. By reformulating the kinetic equation for long internal waves
and developing its calculation method, we estimate the energy decay rates of the low-vertical-mode
semidiurnal internal tides interacting with the ‘‘ubiquitous’’ oceanic internal wave field. The result
shows rapid energy decay of the internal tides, typically within O(10) days for the lowest-mode com-
ponent, near their critical latitudes. This decay time is severalfold shorter than those in the classical
studies and, additionally, varies by a factor of 2 depending on the local depth and density structure. We
suggest from this study that the numerical integration of the kinetic equation is a more effective ap-
proach than recognized to determine the decay parameter of wave energy, which is indispensable for
the global ocean models.

1. Introduction internal tides in the ocean interior have not been

well quantified. Using general circulation models,
The internal tide, a type of oceanic internal wave
de Lavergne et al. (2016) and Melet et al. (2016)
generated in the barotropic tidal flow over bottom to-
demonstrated that the magnitude and structure of
pography, is regarded as the most significant energy
deep ocean circulation are sensitive to the spatial dis-
source for deep ocean mixing. As observed from
tribution of the mixing intensity associated with far-
satellite altimeters, large-scale internal tides gener-
propagating internal tides. This ‘‘far-field tidal mixing’’
ated over steep topography propagate thousands of
is a frontier topic of ocean mixing today (MacKinnon
kilometers in the open ocean (Zhao et al. 2016). Al-
et al. 2017).
though the generation and propagation of internal tides
Among the various dynamic processes that lead to
can be simulated directly by high-resolution numerical
the dissipation of internal tides, the resonant wave–
ocean models (Simmons et al. 2004; Arbic et al. 2010;
wave interaction, called parametric subharmonic in-
Shriver et al. 2012, 2014; Niwa and Hibiya 2011; Müller
stability (PSI), has attracted wide attention in the last
et al. 2012; Niwa and Hibiya 2014), the dissipation rates of
couple of decades. In PSI, given a wave frequency
v1 , a pair of waves with frequencies v2 and v3 will
Corresponding author: Yohei Onuki, onuki@riam.kyushu-u. become unstable if v1 5 v2 1 v3 is satisfied. Based on
ac.jp the dispersion relation of inertia–gravity waves, PSI

DOI: 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0278.1
Ó 2018 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright
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2690 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
affects internal tides only equatorward of the latitude
where half the tidal frequency coincides with the local
inertial frequency. For the principal lunar semidiurnal
constituent (M 2 tide), this critical latitude is 28.88.
Observations suggest that PSI acts most effectively
near the critical latitude, with an abrupt switch off at
higher latitudes and gradual relaxation toward lower
latitudes (Hibiya and Nagasawa 2004; Kunze et al.
2006; Hibiya et al. 2007; Qiu et al. 2012). By using a
numerical model, MacKinnon and Winters (2005)
reported that a progressive internal wave in a merid-
ional plane loses a large part of its energy when
passing through the critical latitude. However, a
subsequent observational assessment (Alford et al.
2007; MacKinnon et al. 2013a) did not show such a
catastrophic decay of internal tides. Although the
energy dissipation rate was largest near 298N, its value
was rather modest compared to that expected. De-
spite the efforts mentioned above, a consensus on the
energy loss of internal tides through wave–wave in-
teractions is yet to be reached.
Previous theoretical studies of PSI have focused
mainly on the enhancement of disturbance waves
from an infinitesimal state superimposed on parent
waves, investigating the ‘‘growth rate’’ of disturbance
wave amplitudes (Sonmor and Klaassen 1997; Young
et al. 2008; Dauxois et al. 2018). However, when
considering the real ocean system, the growth of
the disturbance waves ceases long after the onset of
PSI, whereas turbulent mixing associated with the
decay of internal tides continues. In terms of accurate
ocean circulation modeling, what we need to clarify
is the global distribution of internal tide energy
transferred to dissipation scales. Actually, Oka and
Niwa (2013) reproduced the Pacific deep circula-
tion assuming that energy for turbulent mixing is
supplied from internal tides propagating with a con-
stant decay time of 30 days (Niwa and Hibiya 2011).
Furthermore, recent studies by Ansong et al. (2015)
and Buijsman et al. (2016) showed that proper wave
drag, which is highly inhomogeneous in space, is in-
dispensable to improve the accuracy of the global
internal tide model. Incorporated into the global
internal tide model, the ‘‘decay rate’’ of internal tides
provides useful information about the subgrid-scale
energy dissipation of internal tides in the world’s
oceans.
Unlike the growth rate of disturbances, which can
be estimated by linear stability analysis, the decay rate
of an internal tide interacting with a broadly distrib-
uted, continuous spectrum is difficult to assess within
the conventional analytical or experimental frame-
works. A more suitable theoretical model is the kinetic
VOLUME 48
equation, which describes the energy transfer rate in a
continuous wave spectrum in general (Hasselmann 1966;
Zakharov et al. 1992).
Using the kinetic equation, Olbers and Pomphrey
(1981) and Olbers (1983) estimated the decay rates1 of
internal waves and, surprisingly, concluded that the
resonant interaction for internal tides ‘‘plays no role’’
in the energy balance of the oceanic internal wave
spectrum. Eden and Olbers (2014, hereafter EO14)
reassessed the decay rates of internal tides by im-
proving the integration algorithm of the kinetic equa-
tion. Nonetheless, their new calculation (Fig. 1c in
EO14) still did not show the prominent signals of PSI
near 298N/S. In the end, the discrepancy between the
observational and theoretical results has not been
resolved.
To conquer this problem, we have reformulated the
kinetic equation for long internal waves and, using
this, reexamined the energy decay of internal tides.
As a result, the modest peaks of the decay rates of
internal tides are successfully reproduced at their
critical latitudes. Our estimate is completely different
from the previous calculation and is compatible with
the recent observational evidence. In this article,
after a brief description of the formulation and calcu-
lation methods, the results and their physical impli-
cations are presented.
2. Formulation and calculation method
In most of the previous studies, including EO14,
kinetic equations were designed for interactions
among vertically propagating waves in a uniformly
stratified ocean with infinite depth [reviews can be
found in Müller et al. (1986) and Polzin and Lvov
(2011)]. However, in the real ocean, the physical
properties of low-vertical-mode internal waves de-
pend on the variation of density stratification and
vertical boundary conditions. To extend the applica-
bility, we reformulate the kinetic equation for long
inertia–gravity waves, as described in appendix A, as
follows:
1
Polzin and Lvov (2011) considered asymptotically the growth
rate of near-inertial energy fed by a tidal component through PSI,
specifically (53) in their paper, and found that it becomes infinite
if the kinetic equation is applied to a situation with a mono-
chromatic internal tide. The decay rate of an internal tide, on the
other hand, takes a finite value regardless of the spectrum shape
of the tidal component as far as the overall spectrum is sufficiently
smooth. A more detailed consideration for the growth rate of PSI
in the framework of statistical theory is given by the authors in
another paper, Onuki and Hibiya (2018, manuscript submitted to
J. Fluid Mech.).
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NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA 2691

FIG. 1. Examples of resonant triads. The red curves indicate the loci of k2 5 (k2 , l2 ) that satisfy
(a) k1 2 k2 2 k3 5 0, v1 2 v2 2 v3 5 0 and (b) k1 2 k2 1 k3 5 0, v1 2 v2 1 v3 5 0 for given k1 5 (k1 , 0) and v1 . To
~ 1 5 3:0 m, D
create these figures, f 5 6:16 3 1025 s21 , v1 5 1:41 3 1024 s21 , D ~ 2 5 0:75 m, and D
~ 3 5 0:33 m were
chosen. Note that different scales are used in the two panels.

ð
›n1
5 på jV123 j2 (n2 n3 2 n2 n1 2 n1 n3 )d(k1 2 k2 2 k3 )d(v1 2 v2 2 v3 ) dk2,3
›t j2,3
ð
2 2på jV213 j2 (n1 n3 2 n1 n2 2 n2 n3 )d(k2 2 k1 2 k3 )d(v2 2 v1 2 v3 ) dk2,3 , (1)
j2,3

where n(k, j) represents the wave action density of the
vertical water column per unit area, a function of hori-
zontal wavevector k and vertical mode number j. In the
following, we consider only the baroclinic components
j $ 1. Frequency v is determined by the dispersion re-
lation of inertia–gravity waves:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
v(k, j) 5 f 2 1 gD ~ k2 , (2)
j
where f is the Coriolis parameter, D ~ j is the equiva-
lent depth of the jth mode, and k 5 jkj is the horizon-
tal wavenumber. The coefficient V(k1 , k2 , k3 , j1 , j2 , j3 )
represents the coupling intensity among each triad as
defined by (A7). In an idealized situation where the
density stratification is weak and uniform, the co-
efficient V123 becomes proportional to the delta-like
function with respect to j1 , j2 , j3 ; specifically, it takes a
nonzero value only if j1 6 j2 6 j3 5 0 is satisfied. How-
ever, in the real ocean, interaction is always allowed for
any combination of j1 , j2 , j3 , but their coupling intensity
varies from place to place depending on the stratifica-
tion structure and ocean depth.
The kinetic equation describes the statistical evolu-
tion of the action spectrum (or energy spectrum) on a
time scale much longer than each wave period. Delta
functions in the integrand specify the condition of non-
linear resonance and hence restrict the triad interaction on
some loci in wavevector space (Fig. 1). In principle, (1) can
be integrated to predict the time evolution of the energy
spectrum from an arbitrary initial state. Full numerical
integration of (1) is, however, highly difficult because of
the complexity and singularity of the kernel function.
We now further examine the property of (1). Let us
classify the interaction terms in (1) depending on whether
n1 is involved or not and then rewrite them as ›n1 /›t 5
G[n2 , n3 ] 2 n[n2 , n3 ]n1 , where the first term represents
the energy gain of the n1 component supplied through the
resonant interactions with n2 and n3 , and the second term
corresponds to the energy loss, which is proportional to
n1 itself. The coefficient n, a linear functional of the wave
action spectrum n(k, j), can then be interpreted as the
decay rate of wave energy density.
Now, we separate the action density into those of one
tidal component and other background waves. By as-
suming that the background energy spectrum is isotropic
in the horizontal directions, representing the wave-
vector k in the polar coordinates (k, u), redefining
n(k, j) [ 2pkn(k, j), and performing the integration in (1)

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2692 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY VOLUME 48

with respect to u2 , u3 , we may write the decay rate of an open ocean far from major wave generation sites. Munk
internal tide as follows: (1981) defined this spectrum in frequency and vertical
mode space as
ð
v3 jV123 j2
n(k1 , j1 ) 5 å (k n 1 k2 n3 ) dk2
j2,3 v2 ,v1 2gD ~ kS 3 2 E(v, j) 5 Ey B(v)H(j) , with v . f and j $ 1, (6)
3 3
ð
v3 jV213 j2 where Ey is the total energy density per unit area, and
1å (2k3 n2 1 k2 n3 ) dk2 , (3)
j2,3 v2 .v1 gD ~ kS B(v) and H(j) are the normalized frequency and vertical
3 3
mode spectra:
where  21/2 21
f2 (j2 1 j2+ )
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi B(v) 5 Cv2p 1 2 2 , H(j) 5 ,
S5
1
2(k1 k2 )2 1 2(k2 k3 )2 1 2(k3 k1 )2 2 k41 2 k42 2 k43 v å(j2 1 j2+ )21
4 j
(4) (7)

is the area of a triangle consisting of k1 , k2 , k3 . The res- where C is the normalization constant. Since hydrostatic
onant conditions yield k3 as a function of the integration approximation eliminates
Ð ‘ the upper limit of the disper-
variable k2 : sion relation, we take f B(v) dv 5 1. Energy density in
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the ocean has been historically scaled with the local
u buoyancy frequency as E } N (Polzin and Lvov 2011), so
u[v 2 v (k )]2 2 f 2
k3 5 F(k2 ) [ t 1 2 2
. (5) we define Ey as
gD ~
3
ð0
The first term in (3) originates from the sum inter- Ey 5 E0 N(Z) dZ , (8)
2D
action (v1 5 v2 1 v3 , k1 5 k2 1 k3 ), which involves
PSI and takes nonzero values only when v1 . 2f is where E0 5 5:7 3 102 kg m21 s21 is a constant, and Z
satisfied, whereas the second term comes from the represents the vertical coordinate. Defining represen-
difference interaction (v1 5 v2 2 v3 , k1 5 k2 2 k3 ) that tative density rc 5 1:03 3 103 kg m23 and changing the
occurs at all latitudes. In our calculation, both types independent variables in (6), the action spectrum in
of interaction are taken into account so that the decay horizontal wavenumber and vertical mode space is
rates of M2 internal tides take finite values even over derived as
28.88N/S. qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
The intervals of integration are determined from the Ey C g D ~
j
triangle inequality jk1 2 k3 j , k2 , jk1 1 k3 j. Compared n(k, j) 5 v(k, j)2p21 H(j) . (9)
rc
with the original expression (1), the expression (3) is
more simplified, and hence direct numerical computa- In the original expression (Munk 1981), the variable
tion of it is possible without time integration so long parameters in (7) were chosen as p 5 2, j+ 5 3. How-
as we have the background action spectrum n, struc- ever, in this study, we adopt p 5 2, j+ 5 10 as the
ture function Fj (z), and equivalent depth D ~ j for each ‘‘standard’’ values because the recent observa-
vertical mode. tional review in Polzin and Lvov (2011) shows that
The equivalent depth and vertical structure func- j+ typically varies in the range of 3–15 and Olbers
tions are obtained by solving the eigenvalue problem and Eden (2013) also utilized these values for their
for the linear operator D ^ defined as (A3). The geo- calculation.
graphical data for ocean depth in ETOPO1 (Amante Our target is to estimate the value of decay rate n in
and Eakins 2009) and the climatology of temperature (3) for the lowest five modes of M2 internal tides at
and salinity data in the World Ocean Atlas (Locarnini latitudes where they can exist as progressive waves.
et al. 2013; Zweng et al. 2013) are used for the calculation. The spherical domain, except for shallow areas with
Neutral density is successively calculated from the depths less than 500 m, inland seas, and equatorial
surface downward and then interpolated in the vertical areas, is partitioned into 18 3 18 grid cells. Each water
direction to produce sufficiently smooth and fine density column is then divided into 1024 layers to solve the
profiles. eigenvalue problem. Interactions between internal
In this study, we choose the so-called Garrett–Munk tides and background waves of up to 127 vertical modes
spectrum as the background wave field, which has been are examined, with each interval of wavenumber in-
believed to be the ‘‘ubiquitous’’ energy spectrum in the tegration discretized into 1024 grids for the calculation.

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NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA 2693

FIG. 2. Numerically estimated decay rates n defined in (3) for the lowest five modes of the principal lunar
semidiurnal constituent (M2 tide) interacting with the background wave spectrum. Numbers below the color bar
indicate the e-folding times of the wave energy.

Appendix B presents a method to determine the in-
tervals of wavenumber integration.
3. Results
a. Spherical distribution of decay rates
In Fig. 2, the decay rates of the lowest five modes
of M2 internal tides are depicted on a global map. Note
that a logarithmic color scale is utilized. The typical decay
time of the lowest mode component is O(100) days, the
same as that in a classical study (Olbers 1983), except near
the critical latitudes 298N/S, where we find the most rapid
decay within roughly 20 days for the lowest mode, which is
severalfold shorter than the previous estimates. As the
mode number increases, decay rates increase almost
monotonically. For the fifth mode, the most rapid de-
cay occurs within a few days, implying that a large part
of the energy of high modes is subject to immediate
attenuation, resulting in local energy dissipation near
the generation sites, as anticipated by St. Laurent and
Garrett (2002).
The decay rates in the proximity of the critical
latitudes2 in the North Pacific vary longitudinally by a
factor of 2 (Fig. 3a). This reflects the variation of
waveforms that are determined by the depth and density
stratification structure. Figure 3b depicts isopycnal sur-
faces and the bottom topography for the same region as
in Fig. 3a. The decay rate of each mode reaches its larg-
est value in shallow areas, especially over the Hawaiian
Ridge located in the central Pacific. Another distinct
2
In our 18 resolution calculation, 28.58 is closest to the critical
latitude 28.88.

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2694 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY VOLUME 48

FIG. 3. (a) Estimated decay rates of the lowest five modes of the M2 internal tide along
28.58N in the Pacific. The red curve indicates the rate of the lowest mode. (b) The colored
contours are isopycnal surfaces of neutral density, successively calculated downward from the
surface, taking into account the compressibility of seawater by using data from the World
Ocean Atlas. The contour increment is 0.25 kg m23. The bottom topography in ETOPO1 is
also shown. These data are utilized to solve the eigenvalue problem for the vertical modes.

feature is the eastward increase of the decay rates of the b. Vertical distribution of interaction intensity
lowest mode, which seems to be associated with vari-
Kinetic equation (1) is defined in horizontal wavevector
ation of the density stratification structure. At this
and vertical mode space. In this expression, the coupling
latitudinal band, the subtropical gyre causes the pyc-
coefficient V123 involves the vertical coordinate Z in
nocline to become gradually shallower and sharper
the form of vertically integrated
Ð 0 triple products of vertical
eastward. In the eastern area, the shallow pycnocline
structure functions, R123 5 2D F1 (Z)F2 (Z)F3 (Z) dZ. To
confines the vertical structure of the lowest-mode
investigate the vertical dependence of the interaction
waves near the surface, reducing the equivalent depth
among internal waves, we now heuristically interchange
and hence restricting the horizontal wavelength of in-
the order of summation and integration so as to rewrite
ternal tides. Because shorter waves tend to cause stronger
the decay rate of internal tides, n, as
nonlinear interactions, the decay rate of the lowest mode
is sensitive to pycnocline depth. Although other higher ð0
modes also show longitudinal variations, a clear tendency n(k, j) 5 n0 (Z; k, j) dZ . (10)
2D
as found for the lowest mode is no longer recognized. The
effect of the variation of stratification and topography is The integrand of this expression, n0 , is interpreted as
further investigated in the following. interaction intensity, specifically written as

"ð ð #
v3 jV~123 j2 v3 jV~213 j2
n (Z; k1 , j1 ) 5 åF1 (Z)F2 (Z)F3 (Z)R123
0
(k3 n2 1 k2 n3 ) dk2 1 (2k3 n2 1 k2 n3 ) dk2 ,
j2,3 ~
v2 ,v1 2gD3 k3 S
~
v2 .v1 gD3 k3 S

(11)

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NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA
where we redefined a coupling coefficient V~123 5 V123 1
1 internal tides near 298N/S through parametric subharmonic
V123 1 V123 (see appendix A). This expression makes it
2 3
possible to identify the vertical locations at which internal
tides lose energy to the surrounding internal wave field.
Note that the Z-dependent factor F1 (Z)F2 (Z)F3 (Z)R123
takes both positive and negative values, whereas its ver-
tical integration jR123 j2 is positive definite. Therefore, the
interaction intensity n0 occasionally takes negative values,
which means energy is flowing into the internal tides. This
feature may seem somewhat strange, but there actually
exist field observations showing that this backward en-
ergy transfer indeed occurs intermittently in the ocean
(MacKinnon et al. 2013a).
Figure 4 shows vertical cross sections of n0 in a me-
ridional plane along 179.58W and a zonal plane along
28.58N. Black curves represent isopycnal surfaces. Al-
though n0 takes both positive and negative values, Fig. 4 is
depicted in a logarithmic scale, the hatched areas of which
indicate small negative values. In the left panels, high
values on the equatorial side of the critical latitudes ap-
pear mainly in the upper ocean, especially for the lowest
mode. The horizontal striped patterns of high and low
values correspond to the nodes and antinodes of each
mode. Effects of bottom topography and stratification are
more clearly seen in the right panels. Over the ridges,
nodes are lifted upward with their values enhanced.
Striped patterns are inclined in the zonal direction syn-
chronized with the isopycnal surfaces, concentrating the
interaction intensity near the surface in the eastern area.
Figure 5a shows the zonal average n0 along 28.58N in
the North Pacific. Overall, the exponential decay of n0
from the surface down to about 3000-m depth is per-
ceived, except for more rapid decay for the lowest mode
above 1000-m depth. Now we further define the cumu-
lative contribution to the zonally averaged decay rate n
from levels above a specific depth Z as
ð0
n0 (Z0 ) dZ0
nc (Z) [ ð 0Z (12)
0 0 0
n (Z ) dZ
2D
and depict it in Fig. 5b. The gray dotted lines indicate
1000-m depth and nc 5 0:8. The relative contribution
from the upper 1000-m layer overwhelms 80% for j $ 2
and 90% for j 5 1. In other words, most of the in-
teraction between internal tides and background waves
occurs in the upper ocean.
4. Discussion and conclusions
Contrary to the previous theoretical arguments, our
calculation shows the most rapid energy decay of M2
2695
instability, consistent with the results from field obser-
vations. This improvement is likely attributed to the dif-
ference in background energy spectra. In the vicinity of
298N/S, the M2 internal tides interact intensively with
high-mode near-inertial energy peaks inherent in the
oceanic wave spectrum. The near-inertial energy of the
background spectrum was largely omitted in the previous
estimates by Eden and Olbers (2014, herein EO14); the
frequency spectrum was arranged as E(v) } v22 , which
presumably resulted in underestimates of the energy loss
of internal tides at the midlatitudes.
The present kinetic equation describes only the res-
onant triad interaction among internal waves, assuming
that each wave component perfectly satisfies linear dis-
persion relation (2). As nonlinearity becomes strong,
this dispersion relation is broadened, and hence near-
resonant interaction deviating from the resonant mani-
fold, v1 6 v2 6 v3 6¼ 0, comes to contribute to the energy
transfer in spectrum space. Lvov et al. (2012) discussed
this issue in detail introducing an extended kinetic
equation that involves both resonant and near-resonant
interactions. However, their methodology is impractical
to be used for our purpose owing to the following reasons:
(i) to include the near-resonant interaction, we must in-
tegrate the kinetic equation within higher-dimensional
wavenumber space, which requires too much computa-
tion to be applied to global-scale analysis, and (ii) the
broadened dispersion relation for each wave component,
which is needed to formulate the extended kinetic equa-
tion, is inaccessible a priori. As pointed out by Lvov et al.
(2012), near-resonant interaction should be considered to
explain the stationarity of the internal wave spectrum
particularly for the high-vertical-wavenumber and high-
frequency (v . 2f ) content. On the other hand, energy
transfer from low-mode internal tides to near-inertial
waves, which is the central objective in the present analy-
sis, is expected to be well represented even under the
perfect resonance assumption. We anticipate that when
the broadening of dispersion relation is taken into ac-
count, the sharp peaks of energy decay rates perceived at
28.88N/S may become indistinct, but the overall structure
of the present results will not change.
A remaining issue is how significant resonant wave
interaction plays a role in dissipating internal tide en-
ergy in comparison with other processes, such as topo-
graphic effects or wave–vortex interaction. We here
review some recent studies just briefly discussing them.
First, from a comprehensive viewpoint, the typical decay
time of internal tide energy over the globe has been
estimated in some literature. Niwa and Hibiya (2011)
found that a linear drag acting on baroclinic current
with a decay time of 30 days, which corresponds to the
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2696 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY VOLUME 48

FIG. 4. Vertical cross sections of interaction intensity n0 defined in (11) are depicted along (left) 179.58W and
(right) 28.58N for the lowest five modes of M2 internal tides. In hatched areas, n0 takes negative values. Black curves
show the isopycnal surfaces with an interval of 0.5 kg m23.

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NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA 2697

FIG. 5. (a) Zonal averages of the interaction intensity n0 along 28.58N in the Pacific. (b) Cumulative contribution
of n0 integrated from the surface to each depth, normalized by the value integrated over the total depth, as defined in
(12). The gray dotted lines indicate nc 5 0:8 in the horizontal axis and 1000-m depth in the vertical axis. In both
panels, those for the lowest five modes of M2 internal tides are plotted.

energy decay time of 15 days or longer, is the optimal
value to tune their global tide model with the historical
current meter records in the world’s oceans. Kelly et al.
(2013) calculated the ‘‘residence time’’ of the global
internal tide energy in terms of a simple expression of
(total internal tide energy)/(internal tide generation
rate) as 7–21 days. Zhao et al. (2016) also estimated the
residence time of internal tide energy to be 1–1.5 days,
much shorter than the previous ones. Caution is needed
in that these globally averaged values involve energy
dissipation in the coastal regions. Far from lateral
boundaries, the typical decay time of internal tides may
become substantially longer than the average. In reality,
signals of internal tides detected by the satellite altim-
eters propagate O(1000) km in the open ocean, surviving
several tens of days (Zhao et al. 2016).
Based on a semianalytical model, Kelly et al. (2013)
estimated the scattering coefficients of mode-1 internal
tides over small bottom topography. Their result, de-
fined as the energy loss of an internal tide per unit
length, is translated to the decay rate per unit time by
multiplying the group velocity of inertia–gravity wave at
each location, yielding the typical decay time of internal
tides as O(10) days. Mathur et al. (2014) also discussed
the scattering of the internal tides due to finite-size to-
pography with more realistic stratification to find that
the scattering coefficient is dominantly determined by
the largest topography on the path of internal tides. In
their calculation, scattering coefficients on the northern
side of Hawaii, where no isolated ridges exist, are con-
sistent with those obtained by Kelly et al. (2013). The
effect of the slowly varying eddy field is also a key
candidate for the energy loss of low-mode internal tides
and has been investigated theoretically and numerically
(Kerry et al. 2014; Dunphy and Lamb 2014; Dunphy
et al. 2017; Wagner et al. 2017). Nevertheless, resources
are not enough to see the relative importance between
the wave–wave and wave–vortex interactions in various
regions. We expect that the recent fundamental efforts
mentioned above will be combined with high-resolution
eddy-resolving global ocean models (Qiu et al. 2018)
and the upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topogra-
phy (SWOT) mission (Fu and Ubelmann 2014) to reveal
this undetermined process in the near future.
The shortest decay time of the lowest-mode internal
tides, 20 days in our estimate, suggests that the role of
PSI is still limited even near 28.88N/S. Nonetheless, the
modest peaks of the energy dissipation rates at 298N
on the path of internal tides propagating northward
from Hawaii, reported from the Internal Waves Across
the Pacific (IWAP) experiment (Alford et al. 2007;
MacKinnon et al. 2013a,b), could be reasonably ex-
plained in terms of the present result. Moreover, our
global estimate suggests that the high energy dissipation
rates near the generation sites of internal tides between
208 and 308N reported by a series of observations by
Hibiya and Nagasawa (2004) and Hibiya et al. (2006,
2007) are ascribed to the energy loss of high-mode in-
ternal tides due to PSI, which is a more efficient energy
pathway than that for far-propagating low modes.
To discuss the ‘‘near-field tidal mixing’’ caused by
wave–wave interactions, our theoretical model requires
further improvement. In the formulation of the kinetic
equation, we treat independently the eigenmodes by

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2698 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
assuming that the phase of each wave component is
statistically uncorrelated, thus excluding coherent wave
structure. In the real ocean, internal tides near the gener-
ation site are mostly correlated, sometimes creating a
beam structure obliquely emanating from the bottom
(Nash et al. 2006). Using a numerical model, Nikurashin
and Legg (2011) reproduced local dissipation of internal
tides at rough topography, demonstrating bottom-
intensified energy dissipation induced by PSI. The
present statistical theory cannot cope with this spa-
tially confined interaction process. Occurrence of
resonant interaction near an internal-tide generation
site was also identified through bispectrum analysis of
observation data (Sun and Pinkel 2013). A suitable
theoretical model for near-field resonant interaction
remains to be constructed.
Finally, the present estimate of decay rates should be
interpreted as a lower bound because in this calculation
we utilized the most basic spectrum as the background
field. At major dissipation sites of internal tides, higher
wave energy with a distorted spectrum has been reported
(e.g., Hibiya et al. 2012). Enhanced background waves
will absorb the internal tide energy more rapidly. To
detect the optimal energy balance between the internal
tides and the background spectrum, we must construct a
time-evolving model as EO14 attempted. Such a model
enables identification of the energy transfer route not
only in physical space but also in mode-and-wavenumber
space, which is linked to the subsequent energy cascade
that causes actual wave dissipation and resulting water
mixing. This study suggests that the numerical integration
of the kinetic equation is a more effective approach than
recognized to determine the decay parameter of internal
waves, which is indispensable for internal tide models to
reproduce deep mixing in the global ocean.
Acknowledgments. The authors express their gratitude
to Shinichiro Kida and two anonymous reviewers for their
invaluable comments on the original manuscript. Numerical
calculations were carried out on the Fujitsu PRIMEHPC
FX10 System (Oakleaf-FX) in the Information Technol-
ogy Center, The University of Tokyo. This study was
supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants JP16H02226 and
JP18H04918. This paper forms part of the first author’s
doctoral dissertation at The University of Tokyo com-
pleted in 2017.
APPENDIX A
Derivation of the Kinetic Equation
Let us consider a rotating stratified ocean with the
hydrostatic approximation in the isopycnal coordinate
VOLUME 48
(x, Z). Here we use the notation of horizontal vector
rotation as (a, b)? [ (2b, a). The spatial domain is
bounded by the flat bottom boundary and the upper free
surface. Under the condition that the potential vorticity is
uniform on each isopycnal surface, the equation of mo-
tion can be described by the canonical equations, in which
horizontal velocity potential and vertical thickness are
conjugate variables (Lvov and Tabak 2004). Here, for
convenience of analysis, the vertical coordinate Z is re-
garded as the reference level of each isopycnal surface in
the state of rest, taking values in (2D, 0). The density r is
assumed to be a prescribed nonincreasing function of Z.
Letting h be the vertical excursion of each isopycnal
surface, the thickness variable is defined as g [ ›h/›Z. By
further employing the Boussinesq approximation, the
time evolution of the horizontal velocity potential
f(x, Z) and the thickness g(x, Z) can be written as
›f dH ›g dH
52 , 5 , (A1)
›t dg ›t df
with the Hamiltonian
ð0 ð
1 ^ dx dZ ,
H5 [(1 1 g)j=f 1 f =? D21 gj2 1 gg Dg]
2 2D
(A2)
^ is
where = [ (›x , ›y ), D [ ›2x 1 ›2y . The linear operator D
defined such that
ðZ ð0
^ r(Z) r(Z0 )
Dg(Z) 5 g(Z0 ) dZ0 1 g(Z0 ) dZ0 ,
rc 2D Z rc
(A3)
where rc is the representative density of seawater. One
may find that Montgomery potential gDg ^ appears as a
pressure force in the first equation of (A1). The kinetic
plus the available potential energy in the whole domain
coincides with rc H . It is noted that our formulation is
equivalent to that in Lvov and Tabak (2004), except for
the vertical boundary conditions. If the vertical domain
is extended to 2‘ , Z , ‘ and the vertical coordinate is
transformed to the density r, the Hamiltonian (A2) re-
duces to the classical one. The linear Hermitian operator
D^ defined in (A3) is a key ingredient in the present
formulation, which specifies the eigenbasis of the linear
internal wave field, as we shall see below.
We now write the eigenvalues and corresponding eigen-
functions of D^ as D ~0 . D~ 1 . . . . and F0 (Z), F1 (Z), . . .,
which are generally called equivalent depths and ver-
tical structure functions. Without loss of generality, we
can assume that the eigenfunctions are a complete or-
thogonal set. Let us introduce a complex variable
a(k, j), which is a linear combination of f and g expanded
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NOVEMBER 2018 ONUKI AND HIBIYA 2699

in vertical eigenmodes and on a horizontal Fourier basis; Now we assume that the nonlinearity is sufficiently
that is, weak: H 2  H 3 . An additional assumption that the
phase of each component is statistically independent
pffiffiffiffi ð 0 ð
v allows us to define the action density n such that
a5 pffiffiffi g(x, Z)Fj (Z)e2ikx dx dZ hay (k, j)a(k0 , j0 )i 5 (2p)2 n(k, j)d(k 2 k0 )djj0 , where the
2p 2k 2D
ð0 ð angle brackets indicate an ensemble average. The wave
ik
1 pffiffiffiffiffiffi f(x, Z)Fj (Z)e2ikx dx dZ . (A4) energy density in a vertical water column per unit area is
‘ Ð
2p 2v 2D approximately Ey 5 rc åj50 v(k, j)n(k, j) dk. Following
the conventional procedure (e.g., Zakharov et al. 1992),
Here we utilize the dispersion relation of the long
kinetic equation (1) is readily derived.
inertia–gravity wave v(k, j), defined in (2). The canon-
ical equations (A1) are consequently rewritten as
APPENDIX B
›a dH
i 5 y, (A5)
›t da
Interval of Wavenumber Integration
where the Hamiltonian H 5 H 2 1 H 3 is expressed in The interval of wavenumber integration in (3) is
terms of a as specified by the inequality
ð
H 2 5 å vay a dk and (A6a) jk1 2 k3 j , k2 , jk1 1 k3 j , (B1)
j

ð along with dispersion relation (2) and the frequency

1 1 resonant condition v1 5 v2 6 v3 . Replacing the sign
H3 5 å
2p j1,2,3
U a a a d(k 1 k2 1 k3 )
6 123 1 2 3 1 of inequality by that of equality, we obtain an
 equation whose roots correspond to the endpoints
1 y
1 V123 a1 a2 a3 d(k1 2 k2 2 k3 ) dk1,2,3 1 c.c: : of integration. This equation is deformed into a
2
polynomial form:
(A6b)
a4 x4 1 a3 x3 1 a2 x2 1 a1 x 1 a0 5 0, (B2a)
The coupling coefficients U and V are functions of
horizontal wavevectors k1 , k2 , k3 and vertical mode ~ 2D
~ )2 ,
a4 [ g2 (D2 3
(B2b)
numbers j1 , j2 , j3 . For our calculation, only V is needed,
and its expression is ~ 2 k 1 4g2 D
~ D
~ k ,
a3 [ 24g2 D 3 1 2 3 1
(B2c)

V123 5 R(j1 , j2 , j3 )(V123

1
1 V123
2
1 V123
3
), (A7a) ~ v2 1 6g2 D
a2 [ 22gD ~ 2 k2 2 2g2 D
~ D ~ v2 ,
~ k2 2 2gD
2 1 3 1 2 3 1 3 1
ð0 (B2d)
R(j1 , j2 , j3 ) 5 Fj (Z)Fj (Z)Fj (Z) dZ , (A7b)
2D 1 2 3
a1 [ 24g2 D ~ k v2 ,
~ 2 k3 1 4gD and (B2e)
3 1 3 1 1
 rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 k k k v2 v3 k2 k3  k1 v3 v1
1
V123 5 pffiffiffi 1 2 3 1 a0 [ 24f 2 v21 1 v41 1 g2 D ~ v2 k2 ,
~ 2 k4 2 2gD (B2f)
k2 k3 v1 k3 k1 v2 3 1 3 1 1
2 2
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  with the condition of jv2 (x) 2 v1 j . f , where we denote
k k k v1 v2
1 3 1 2 , (A7c) x instead of k2 to specify the unknown variable. It is
k1 k2 v3
noted that, since the function S in the denominator of
 
2f 2 k k k k k k k k k the integrand in (3) vanishes at the endpoints, this is a
2
V123 5 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 2 3 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 , kind of improper integration. That is why (B2) must be
2 2v1 v2 v3 k2 k3 k3 k1 k1 k2
solved in high accuracy to perform the numerical in-
and (A7d) tegration. In this study, we have solved (B2) for each
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi combination of j1 , j2 , j3 at each latitude and longitude
if k  k? v1 v2 using the Bairstow method in quadruple precision. In
3
V123 5 pffiffiffi 2 3 (k2 2 k3 ) 1
2 2
(k2 2 k23 )
2 2k1 k2 k3 v v
2 3
v v 1
3 1 this iterative method, we carefully arrange initial
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  values and the convergence condition to prevent fatal
v3
1 (k22 2 k21 ) . (A7e) numerical errors. We have verified that the results do
v1 v2 not change substantially even when the total number

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2700 JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
of grids in the integration, 1024 as related in the text, is
reduced to half.
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