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GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Stanisław R. Massel
Internal
Gravity
Waves in the
Shallow Seas
Editor-in-chief
Paweł Rowiński
Series editors
Marek Banaszkiewicz, Warsaw, Poland
Janusz Pempkowiak, Sopot, Poland
Marek Lewandowski, Warsaw, Poland
Marek Sarna, Warsaw, Poland
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8821
Internal Gravity Waves

in the Shallow Seas
123
Marine Dynamics
Institute of Oceanology
Sopot
Poland
The GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences Book Series is in part a continuation of Monographic
Volumes of Publications of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the journal
published since 1962 (http://pub.igf.edu.pl/index.php).
ISSN 2190-5193 ISSN 2190-5207 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-319-18907-9 ISBN 978-3-319-18908-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18908-6
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et de Géochimie de Strasbourg
Aleksander Brzeziński Université de Strasbourg et CNRS
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Geophysical Institute
Javier Cuadros University of Bergen
Department of Mineralogy Bergen, Norway
Natural History Museum
London, UK Michael A. Kaminski
Department of Earth Sciences
Jerzy Dera University College London
Institute of Oceanology London, UK
Sopot, Poland Andrzej Kijko
Aon Benfield
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Institute of Geological Sciences Szczecin, Poland
Warszawa, Poland
Roman Teisseyre
Stanisław Massel Department of Theoretical Geophysics
Institute of Oceanology Institute of Geophysics
Polish Academy of Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences
Sopot, Poland Warszawa, Poland
Antonio Meloni Jacek Tronczynski

Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica Laboratory of Biogeochemistry
Rome, Italy of Organic Contaminants
IFREMER DCN_BE
Evangelos Papathanassiou Nantes, France
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research
Anavissos, Greece Steve Wallis
School of the Built Environment
Kaja Pietsch Heriot-Watt University
AGH University of Science and Riccarton, Edinburgh
Technology Scotland, UK
Kraków, Poland
Wacław M. Zuberek
Dušan Plašienka Department of Applied Geology
Prírodovedecká fakulta, UK University of Silesia
Univerzita Komenského Sosnowiec, Poland
Bratislava, Slovakia
Piotr Życki
Barbara Popielawska Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical
Space Research Centre Centre
Polish Academy of Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences
Warszawa, Poland Warszawa, Poland
Tilman Spohn
Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund
Raumfahrt in der Helmholtz
Gemeinschaft
Institut für Planetenforschung
Berlin, Germany
To my wife Barbara
Preface
The atmosphere and the oceans form a coupled system which constantly exchanges
momentum, heat and water through the air-ocean interface. The interface and ocean
waters are in endless motions of various scales, from micro-turbulence through to
surface waves, tides, global currents and internal waves which are the subject of
discussion in this book. In contrast to the surface waves, internal waves propagate
through the whole fluid space not only horizontally, but also vertically. In general,
ocean fluid is inhomogeneous in space and time due to differences in water tem-
perature and salinity. The surfaces of the interface between warm and cold water or
between fresh and salt water in a continuously stratified fluid are unstable.
Oscillating interface forms waves which are of different type than those appearing
on the free ocean surface. The amplitudes of gravity internal waves within the water
column are usually considerably larger; the wavelengths are also much bigger than
those of the ordinary surface waves.
Internal waves play a fundamental role for supporting the hydrological and
energetic status of oceans. This fact results from the vertical structure of ocean
waters. Temperature and salinity of waters differ considerably and cause a sub-
stantial variation of the water density. The internal waves generated by wind,
pressure fluctuation or flow over the bottom topography, appear to be the principal
cause of water mixing. Mean and eddy flows over topography generate internal lee
waves, while tidal flows over topography generate internal tides. Vertical mixing
enhances meridional heat flux in the ocean, playing an important role in affecting
the earth’s climate.
While internal waves were known to exist in the ocean in the early 1900s, it is
only within the past five decades or so that technology has advanced to a point
where large number of observations, also from space, are available. Internal waves
move along interfaces as well as in fully three-dimensional space, and they are
changing at a relatively fast temporal and small spatial scales, which makes them
difficult to observe and include in weather and climate model. Also, the appearance
xi
xii Preface
of waves at the boundary surface between two water layers has for long escaped the
attention of the observers, because even when the amplitude of the oscillation at the
boundary surface is large, the free surface of the upper layer is only slightly dis-
turbed and remains practically at rest.
In contrast to the ocean surface waves, the literature on the internal waves is not
so numerous. Due to the high complexity and nonlinear nature of the phenomena,
gravity internal waves remain a hydrodynamic process that is still not fully known.
Solving the equations describing their evolution poses various mathematical chal-
lenges associated with singular boundary value problems and large amplitude
dynamics. However, some available oceanographical textbooks and many papers
include a discussion of internal gravity waves propagating at interfaces as well as in
continuously stratified fluid. Different dynamics mechanisms, such as wave gen-
eration, propagation, nonlinear evolution and stability, are also described. The early
theoretical results and observations have been summarised in the monographs by
Krauss, Roberts and Phillips. In Roberts’s monograph, a long list of locations of
reported observations of internal waves till the year 1975 is given. In the more
recent monograph by Sutherland, the approach taken there is to provide the physics
and mathematics describing internal gravity waves in a way that is accessible to
students who have been exposed to multivariable calculus and ordinary differential
equations. A few books and many papers, mostly theoretical, on the internal gravity
waves were also published in Russia, but due to the language barrier, some of these
papers are unknown among the Western scientific community. For example,
Miropolsky’ monograph, originally published in Russia in the year 1982, has been
published in English only in the year 2001.
Most of the professional literature dedicated to internal waves is focused on the
deep ocean, and only a limited number of papers is dealing with shallow waters.
Therefore, there is a need to bring the attention of marine community to specific
mechanisms of internal waves propagated in the limiting water depth and over
undulating shallow sea bottom. In this book an introduction to the physics and
prediction of internal waves in shallow water is presented, taking an advantage of
modern theoretical and experimental achievements published in professional liter-
ature, along with the author’s results. The shallow water case requires a different
approach than the deep sea for proper representation of the governing equations
describing the internal waves propagation. Therefore, special attention in the book
is given to the Korteweg-de Vries equation and its stable solutions in the form
of the solitary and cnoidal waves. Another important objective of this book is an
examination of various experimental methods for collecting and processing data on
the internal waves. In particular, the experimental results obtained by moving
sensors and thermistor chains in shallow waters in the Southern Baltic Sea are
discussed in detail.
The book is designed for graduate students, Ph.D. students, postdoctoral students
and scientists—physicists, engineers and ecologists working on sea environmental
Preface xiii
problems. The reader is assumed to have a working knowledge of calculus, and a

knowledge of hydrodynamic concepts would be helpful. While the fundamental
concepts of internal wave physics are given in great detail, some advanced topics
are only overviewed. However, many illustrating examples, cross references and
subject index are provided to make the book more efficient as a handbook.
The book structure can be summarised as follows: in Chap. 1, useful definitions
related to the internal waves are given and the stability of water masses for different
profiles of water density is explained. The main purpose of this chapter is to
develop general governing equations for various characteristic internal wave
parameters.
Chapter 2 deals with the special case of interfacial waves propagating in
two-layer seas when the thermocline and pycnocline change very sharply with
water depth. The analytical solutions for infinitesimal waves as well as solutions for
large amplitude (Stokes’ type solution) and long waves (solitary and cnoidal
solution) are discussed in detail.
In Chap. 3, a more general case of the continuously stratified ocean is considered
for constant water depth. The classical, as well as the variational type solutions
of the basic governing equations for short and long internal waves are developed.
Chapter 4 deals with the propagation of internal waves over bottom irregularities
and sloping continental shelves. The observation of breaking internal waves in the
laboratory channels as well as numerical simulations for propagation of internal
waves in a natural environment is described.
Chapter 5 is dedicated to the possible physical mechanisms of generation of the
internal waves such as wind action, fluctuation of atmospheric pressure and local
disturbances.
In Chap. 6 emphasis is placed on the methodology of the spectral representation
of the internal waves in frequency and wavenumber space. In particular, an
application of the Fourier Integral or Fourier-Stjeltjes Integral methods for exper-
imental series, stationary in time or uniform is space, is provided. Moreover, using
of the Wavelet Transform and Hilbert Transform techniques for non-stationary
experimental data is illustrated.
Finally in Chap. 7, practical applications of theoretical methods developed in the
previous chapters for the internal waves in the shallow Baltic Sea are described in
detail. Various methods of the eigen-solutions of the vertical velocity equation for
three-layer model of various density distributions are considered and many exam-
ples of the practical calculations are given. The available observations of internal
waves with moving sensors and thermistor chains are described and the results of
calculations are discussed and interpreted.
The book is supplemented with an extended list of relevant bibliography and
subject index. Some figures in the book have been adapted from previously pub-
lished figures, and this is indicated in the legends. I apologise for the inevitable
xiv Preface
errors which may occur in this book, despite my efforts to eliminate them. Please
bring these errors to my attention.
I would like to express my thanks to the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish
Academy of Sciences for support during the preparation of this book. Thanks are
also due to Daniel Rak from the Institute of Oceanology for his help in preparation
of experimental data from the r/v Oceania cruises in the Southern Baltic. I would
like to thank my grand-daughter Maria Dembska for her accurate proof-reading and
language corrections. I am grateful also to Danuta Pruszczak for her expertise in
preparation of the text and figures. Special thanks go to my wife Barbara for her
support and encouragement during the writing process.
Sopot Stanisław R. Massel

May 2015
Contents
1 Introducing Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Internal Ocean Waves and Their Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Experimental Insights into Internal Waves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Useful Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Stability of Water Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Internal Waves in Two-Layer Sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2 Analytic Solutions for Infinitesimal Interfacial Waves . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3 Progressive Interfacial Waves of Finite Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.1 Deep and Intermediate Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.2 Long Interfacial Waves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3 Waves in a Continuously Stratified Sea of Constant

Water Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2 Exponential Density Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3 Three-Layer Density Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4 Other Specific Density Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5 Arbitrary Density Profile—Variational Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.6 System of Two Pycnoclines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.7 Weakly Nonlinear Long Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.8 Wave Energy in a Stratified Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
xv
xvi Contents
3.9 Remarks on Wave Induced Mixing in a Stratified Fluid ....... 81

3.9.1 Mixing in Two-Layer Flow System . . . . . . . . . ....... 81
3.9.2 Role of Internal Waves in Supporting
Turbulent Mixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... 82
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... 85
4 Waves in a Continuously Stratified Sea of Varying Depth . ...... 87

4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 87
4.2 Review of Available Theoretical and Numerical
Prediction Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 87
4.3 Waves Propagating on a Coastal Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 89
4.4 Ray Method for Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 95
4.5 Nonlinear Internal Waves Propagation in a Horizontally
Inhomogeneous Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 105
5 Generation of Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 109

5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 109
5.2 Generation of Internal Waves by Localised Disturbances. ...... 109
5.3 Generation of Internal Waves by Wind Action
and Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 112
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 117
6 Spectral Properties of Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

6.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.2 Internal Waves Spectra with a Given Modal Structure . . . . . . . . 120
6.3 Experimental Spectra for Internal Waves in Deep Ocean. . . . . . . 128
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
7 Internal Waves in the Baltic Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 131

7.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 131
7.2 Basic Hydrographical and Dynamical Features
of the Baltic Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 131
7.3 Observations of Internal Waves Using Thermistors Chain . ..... 135
7.4 Observations of Vertical Water Structure Using
Moving CTD Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 150
Appendix A: Sea Water Density According to UNESCO Formula . . . . 153
Appendix B: Determination of Isopycnal Displacements

by Moving CTD Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 1
Introducing Internal Waves
1.1 Introduction
Naturally occurring flows involve fluids of different densities, e.g. warm and cold or
fresh and saline waters. Under the action of the gravitational forces, the heavy fluid
is lowered and the light fluid raises. The ocean is generally stably stratified with the
thermocline, below the upper mixed layer which is 100 m deep on average. However,
the interface of two media of different densities is usually unstable and under some
forcing impulse the wave type disturbances are generated at the interface. A good
example of such waves are the ocean surface waves (Massel 2013). However, as the
density difference between water and air is large, the interface waves are not too high.
On the other hand, within the ocean water column, the vertical density gradients are
typically very small and a little energy is required to move water particles vertically.
Therefore, the amplitudes of internal disturbances can be very large. For example,
Bockel (1962) observed internal waves of 180 m height in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Although coherent oscillations are excited by tides in coastal regions (baroclinic
tide), internal wave activity mostly occurs as random fluctuations. The wave energy
and statistical properties show remarkable similarities at any time in most part of
the ocean, except maybe in the areas near the equator, near strong currents or very
shallow waters and over sloping bottom. Various spectral measurements have been
summarised in very well known spectral model of Garrett and Munk (1975, 1979).
In a stratified fluid, gravity waves propagate through the fluid vertically as well
as horizontally. Such gravity waves moving within a continuously stratified fluid
are called internal waves, while the term interfacial waves is used to describe
gravity waves moving at the interface between two water layers of different constant
densities. Internal gravity waves transport the momentum and energy, without any
transport of matter as long as their dynamics is linear and non-dissipative. Ocean
internal waves typically have wavelengths ranging from hundreds of meters to tens of
kilometres and periods from several minutes to several hours. Orbital motions of the
water particles associated with internal waves have the largest radius at the pycnocline
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 1

S.R. Massel, Internal Gravity Waves in the Shallow Seas,
GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18908-6_1
2 1 Introducing Internal Waves
depth, and it decreases downwards and upwards from this depth. The shape of internal
waves depends upon the water depth. Near water surface, the commonly appearing
waves have a trochoidal form with broad crests and narrow troughs. However, near
sea bottom this trend is reversed and the crests, similarly like those of surface waves,
are narrower than the troughs (Thorpe 1968; Sutherland 2010).
A role of the internal waves for the ocean’s dynamics and ocean’s life is under-
lined in Sect. 1.2. A short review of available observations of the internal waves in
the oceans is given in Sect. 1.3. In Sect. 1.4, the basic definitions used for descrip-
tion of internal waves are discussed. For understanding of the physics of internal
waves, the stability of ocean water plays a fundamental role. The three states of
a fluid element, i.e. stable, unstable or neutral are discussed in detail in Sect. 1.5. In
Sect. 1.6, the governing equations for the internal wave characteristics are developed
and summarized.
1.2 Internal Ocean Waves and Their Significance
The ocean space is limited by two boundaries, i.e. ocean surface and ocean bot-
tom. Atmospheric forcing at the ocean surface induces surface waves whose energy
strongly attenuates with water depth. Therefore, the surface waves play an important
role for the energy transfer from the atmosphere, and for the enhancement of heat
flux and mixed layer in the upper ocean. As the influence of wind-induced waves is
most sensible and hostile on engineering structures, the surface waves are of great
interest for the engineering community.
However, at the deeper layers of the ocean, surface waves are not playing a leading
role for the fluid motion. Here, the basic sources of energy are tides, currents and
internal waves. In particular, ability of internal waves to propagate horizontally as
well as vertically provides necessary mechanisms for the transport and disperse of
momentum and energy within the total ocean column. Transportation of energy takes
place not only in space but also across scales of motions, from low to high frequencies
and from low wavenumbers to high wavenumbers.
Although internal waves do not play an important role in the evolution of weather
and climate, their influence is non-negligible. They have long been examined as an
agent of mixing the ocean to produce the vertical diffusivities needed to maintain
the thermoclines in balance with mean vertical advection, contributing to the vertical
velocity in the ocean which is required to support the global thermohaline circulation.
According to Munk (1966), the vertical velocity of the order of 1.2 cm per day (or
1.4 × 10−7 m s−1 ) and eddy diffusivity of K = 1.3 cm2 per day are required for that
effect. His computations were based on the budget of the cold water (produced in
the Antarctica) for the Central Pacific.
In fact, the mechanisms responsible for the generation of the vertical velocity
and required diffusivity are still not well known. The four various processes have
been considered by Munk, namely boundary mixing, thermodynamic mixing, shear
1.2 Internal Ocean Waves and Their Significance 3
mixing and biological mixing. It is believed that in all these processes, internal waves
provide one of the main mechanisms for the mixing in the ocean column, and mixing
near boundaries.
Internal waves can also move biological particles and nutrients. They greatly affect
the water mixing and transport of gasses and other particulate substances, which
provide a necessary biophysical coupling mechanisms for phyto- and zooplankton
evolution. Kahru (1983) showed that internal waves mixing and pumping are the
important processes that locally raise the nutrient concentration and increase the
primary production creating a patchy field of phytoplankton blooms. Lucas et al.
(2011) reported measurements from the continental shelf showing that the internal
waves transport nitrate shoreward approximately with the same intensity as the rate of
phytoplankton nutrient uptake, contributing significantly to the enhanced biological
productivity.
The exchange of water between coastal and offshore environments due to internal
waves motion is of particular interest for its role in delivering mezoplanktonic larvae
to adult populations from offshore larval pools (Botsford et al. 1994). The arrival
of cool, deep water associated with internal bores into warm, shallower waters cor-
responds with drastic increases in phytoplankton and zooplankton concentrations.
While both surface waters and those at depth tend to have relatively low primary
productivity, thermoclines are often associated with a chlorophyll maximum layer.
Those layers attract large aggregations of mobile zooplankton that internal bores
push inshore. Many taxa can be almost absent in the warm surface waters but they
are plentiful in the internal bores approaching shore (Leichter et al. 1998). In the non-
linear large steep internal waves, the reverse-oscillating cores are observed (Derzho
and Grimshaw 1997; Manasseh et al. 1998). These cores can also transport parcels of
water shoreward with suspending sediment as well as plankton and nutrients found
along the benthos in deeper water.
Internal waves induce oscillation of thermoclines and therefore have the potential
to transfer the phytoplankton-rich waters downward from pelagic to benthic system.
In particular, periodic depression of the thermocline and associated downwelling
play an important role in the vertical transport of planktonic larvae.
1.3 Experimental Insights into Internal Waves
John Scott Russell, working in the 19th century, was probably the first to observe
internal waves (Russell 1844). He reported the formation of a single unchanging
mound in the shallow waters of the narrow channel, generated when a towed large
barge was suddenly stopped. As Russell noted, a rounded, well-defined heap of
water continued to move without change of form and speed. The observation of such
solitary waves and the subsequent theoretical description by Korteweg and de Vries
(1895) provided some understanding of this phenomenon at the beginning of 20th
century.
However, it is only within the last decades or so that technology has advanced to
a point where large numbers of observations become available. Most internal wave
measurement methods are based on recording the profiles of temperature and salinity
in the water column. The movement of points of equal temperature or the movement
of points of equal salinity are manifestations of the passage of internal waves.
Since the launching of the Seasat in 1978 and European Remote Sensing Satellite
ERS-1 in 1991 with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board, a large number of data
on the surface manifestation of the presence of internal waves has become available.
Historically, the Andaman Sea was probably the region where the surface effects
of internal waves passage were first observed (Osborne and Burch 1980). Based on
satellite photography, the crest lengths of the observed internal solitons may be as
long as 150 km and the separation distance between solitons in a packet as long as
15 km. Packets occurred every 12 h 26 min, indicating a tidal origin for the internal
solitons. The source regions for the solitons generation are shallow-water areas near
northern Sumatra or the southernmost of the Nicobar Islands, where the average
spring tide range is ∼1.4 m.
The large amplitudes of internal waves (up to 100 m or more) have been observed
in Sulu Sea (Apel et al. 1985), at the Mascarene Ridge (Sabinin 1992; Konyaev et al.
1995), near Gibraltar Strait (Bockel 1962; Bryden et al. 1994) and in the central Bay
of Biscay (New and Pingree 1990).
The internal waves of tidal frequency (internal tides) are generated by the inter-
action of barotropic tidal currents with sloping topography in stratified fluid at the
critical points where slope of the internal wave characteristics is the same as the bot-
tom slope (see Chap. 4 for more details). From these critical points, known as gener-
ation sites, the beams of energy propagate in both shoreward and seaward direction.
During shoreward propagation the wave packet is continuously modified and the
wave amplitude grows. Comprehensive observations of internal tides were made by
Holloway (1984, 1994, 1996) on the semi-diurnal internal tides in the region of the
shelf-break at the Australian North West Shelf. On the shelf, tidal amplitudes range
up to 10 m and the magnitude of the dissipation of tidal energy is very high. It was
shown that the internal tides have a three-dimensional structure and the amplitude at
the M2 tidal frequency dominates over the S2 amplitude (Burrage et al. 1996). Pre-
dominantly the waves of depression are observed during the summer, while in winter
they are weaker and are predominantly waves of positive elevation (Van Gastel et al.
2009).
Van Gastel et al. accurately measured the phase speed and direction of the propa-
gation of the internal wave packet using the current meter array and L-shaped benthic
array containing six cross-shelf and long-shelf moorings along two orthogonal lines.
All instruments collected temperature and current magnitude and direction mea-
surements enabling both the phase speed and direction of the internal waves. The
observed phase speeds of the waves, calculated from thermistor chain and current
meter data are shown to be in a close agreement with the linear theory, providing
that slowly varying depth is taken into account.
1.3 Experimental Insights into Internal Waves 5
The Indonesian Throughflow which joins the waters of the Pacific and Indian
Oceans has been a subject of very large investigations from the 1990s. The system of
sub-surface pressure gauges and ADCPs provided the data on the vertically integrated
transport. The amplitude of the total surface transport variation through the five major
passages is ranging from 10–15 Sv (Chong et al. 2000). Sea levels and mooring data,
processed using the Hilbert-Huang Transform (Huang and Shen 2005), display inter-
seasonal variability which corresponds to the remotely forced Kelvin waves from
the Indian Ocean through Lombok Strait (Dwi Susanto et al. 2000). In particular,
the Lombok Strait separating the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok is one of
the straits in the Indonesian archipelago where high-amplitude internal waves are
observed (Dwi Susanto et al. 2005). The analysis of two consecutive satellite SAR
images showed that the observed internal waves are a result of the interaction between
semi-diurnal tidal flows over the sill, south of the Lombok Strait. Clearly a two-layer
system of water column was observed. For solitary internal waves, the horizontal
velocities in the lower layer were opposite in direction to those in the upper layer.
The echogram showed very large internal waves with amplitudes exceeding 100 m
and with propagation speed of 1.96 m s−1 .
In recent years, the northern South China Sea (SCS) became a popular hot spot for
observations of the large internal solitary waves (Lien et al. 2014). They are formed
by conversion from internal tides generated in the Luzon Strait and propagate on
the upper continental slope in the SCS close to Dongsha Island. Experiments in
May 2011 showed that the vertical displacement of internal tides has a nonlinear
non-sinusoidal form and amplitude of the displacement is of the order of 50 m. The
propagation speed of the waves was about 2 m s−1 . Vertical profiles of down welling
and upwelling have maxima occurring at around 150 m water depth. Some of the
observed internal waves reach the breaking limit u max > C0 , indicating convective
instability (u max is the maximal horizontal velocity and C0 is the wave phase speed).
Vertical overturns of ∼100 m occur within the core of the wave.
Since the early 1980s, the Joint Canada–US Ocean Wave Investigation Project
and SAR Internal Wave Signature Experiment provided results widely used in the
interpretation and application of ocean SAR images taken by the following missions,
such as ERS-1, namely SAR images of internal waves evolution in the East and South
China Seas and RADASAT images of internal waves in the Middle Atlantic Bight.
Zheng et al. (2001) examined the variation of thermocline depth within an ocean
area between 73◦ –74◦ W and 38◦ –39◦ N. Along the track, water depths increase from
20 to 1800 m. It was observed that the thermocline depth of the upper ocean is
shoaling and the density difference between the upper and lower layers varies with
bottom shoaling. In particular, the density difference decreases from 3.2 × 10−3 to
1.6 × 10−3 g cm−3 within a distance of 60 km. Thermocline shoaling and deepening
induces changes in the phase speeds of internal waves as described by linear wave
theories.
The variation of the wave speed may reflect the fact that waves are propagating
in an inhomogeneous medium. Such evolution of internal waves was observed in
the Gulf of Aden from Discovery space shuttle during mission STS-26 (Zheng et al.
2001). From the photographs, groups of long curved lines, representing the signatures
of ocean internal waves packets can be seen. Some of them indicate that a surprisingly
sharp recess of internal solitary wave is a signature of spatial phase delay caused by
thermocline shoaling over the seamount.
Serebryanyj (1990) showed a series of examples of internal waves observed in the
shelf zones of Kaspiyan, Black and Japan Seas. These observations illustrate a large
influence of the nonlinearities on the waves, especially in terms of their asymmetry.
The White Sea is the smallest sea of the Arctic Ocean with a complex bottom
topography and coastline. The tidal current velocities are very high, up to 1.8 m s−1 .
Such conditions are suitable for the generation of the nonlinear internal waves. Kozlov
et al. (2014) examined the satellite Envisat Advanced SAR images of the internal
waves activity in the particular regions of the White Sea. These internal waves were
characterised by the crest lengths as long as 200 km with the wavelengths of leading
waves up to 2.5 km. The numerical model, based on the extended Korteweg-de Vries
equation (see Chaps. 3 and 4), confirmed a strong influence of M2 tidal cycle.
Fluid motion induced by various causes (see Chap. 5) disturbs initial equilibrium,
generating isopycnal displacements. Generally speaking, the patterns of these oscil-
lations are non-stationary in time and non-uniform in space. Moreover, in shallow
waters, irregular bathymetry enhances the nonlinear mechanisms which cause the
random disturbances of the thermoclines and pycnoclines. Therefore, it is sometimes
very difficult to describe the internal waves properties by the deterministic models
discussed in Chaps. 1–4. The only way is to apply the spectral methods which are
given in Chap. 6.
The Baltic Sea was omitted in our discussion. However, the separate Chap. 7 is
dedicated to this shallow water basin with the special features in terms of the internal
waves dynamics.
1.4 Useful Definitions
For the purpose of this book, we define the short-period internal waves as those
waves whose periods are significantly shorter than 12 h. Usually, the periods of short
internal waves are ranging between 5 and 20 min, being as short as 2.5 min or long
as 5 h. For example, temperature measurements made in Massachusetts Bay (West
Atlantic) indicate that the thermocline can heave up and down with periods of 6 to
8 min with vertical displacements of 10 m, occurring at 17.2 m below the surface
(Halpern 1971). In the Andaman Sea, short internal waves with periods of about
20 min and amplitudes over 40 m were observed.
Internal waves with periods anywhere around 12 h are called semi-diurnal tides,
and internal waves with periods around 24 h are called diurnal internal tides. The
amplitudes of internal tides are usually 2–10 m, while their length is about 3 × 104 m.
A comprehensive review of internal tide observations was published by Huthnance
(1989). In particular, the existence of internal waves with a semi-diurnal period was
observed during temperature/salinity measurements on the Australian North-West
Shelf. Vertical displacements of isopycnal surfaces measured about 30 m, equal to
1.4 Useful Definitions 7
nearly half the water depth (Holloway 1983). Internal waves with the longest periods
are inertial waves, which for our purpose are defined as waves whose periods are
very close to the inertial period for a particular latitude.
In contrast to the internal wave amplitude, it is very difficult to determine experi-
mentally the dispersion relation and wavelength. The phase speed of the short-period
internal waves varies between 0.1 and 1 m s−1 . Steepness of waves is very small,
equal to about 0.04. They are not necessary of sinusoidal form. Sometimes they
are flattened on the crests, when the thermocline is shallow and peaked, when the
thermocline is deep.
Seawater is not pure water. It contains salts, dissolved organic substances, and
mineral and organic suspended matter. The principal seawater state parameter is
density, or mass per unit volume. The density of water controls many fundamental
processes in the ocean, e.g. the hydrostatic equilibrium or motion of water particles
and propagation of internal waves, turbulence and mixing in water column, heat
transfer, concentration of plankton and sediment transport, locomotion of marine
species and many others. Even small alterations in the density of seawater result in
great changes in water flow and its thermal and chemical status.
Density is usually symbolised by ρ and in the SI system it is expressed in kilograms
per cubic meter (kg m−3 ). For example, the density of pure water is approximately
1000 kg m−3 being 770–890 times that of air at sea level. The water density is fre-
quently denoted in σt units as a form of shorthand. The quantity σt known as the
potential density is related to density ρ by the expression:
σt = ρ − 1000 (1.1)
Thus, the potential density σt = 25 kg m−3 corresponds to the density ρ equal to

1025 kg m−3 .
Unlike measuring salinity, temperature and pressure, there are no practical meth-
ods of measuring density of seawater in situ. Density of seawater is usually deter-
mined through its dependence on pressure, p, temperature, T , and salinity, S. Pres-
sure, p, has an insignificant effect on the density of water for most applications,
unless one is dealing with water at great depths within the ocean.
Density is much more dependent on temperature, generally decreasing as the
temperature increases. However, density of freshwater is not a monotonic function
of the temperature, and water density reaches a maximum at temperature of 3.98 ◦ C
under normal atmospheric pressure. Normal atmospheric pressure at sea level, called
the normal atmosphere, is defined to be 1.01325 × 105 Pa at 15 ◦ C, in which 1 Pa
is equal to 1 N m−2 . This anomalous dependence of the density of freshwater on
temperature is a result of the specific molecular structure of water.
The general dependence of the sea water density ρ(S, T, p) on salinity, S, tem-
perature, T , and pressure, p, is called the equation of state for sea water. There
have been many attempts to establish the relationship ρ(S, T, p) in the past and the
modern algorithm of determination of density for given salinity, S, temperature, T ,
and pressure, p, was developed by an international group of experts on standards
(UNESCO 1981) see Appendix A.
Most internal waves measurement methods are based on recording of the profiles
of temperature and salinity in the water column. The movement of points of equal
temperature, isotherms, or the movement of points of equal salinity, isohalines, as
well as the movement of points of equal density, isopycnals are manifestations of
the passage of internal waves. The zone where the vertical density gradient is the
greatest is known as a pycnocline. For completeness we define here the thermocline
as a zone where density is determined mostly by the rapid temperature variations,
and halocline where the density variations are controlled mostly by the salinity.
Figure 1.1 illustrates typical vertical profiles of the temperature, salinity and density
in the Southern Baltic waters. The thermocline and halocline are about 60 m below
the sea surface, with the isopycnals changing between water depths 50 m and 72 m.
In the same figure, a vertical profile of the Väisälä-Brunt frequency, N (z), is also
given. We will discuss the frequency N later in this chapter in a detail.
When the density of fluid is a function of pressure only (i.e. ρ = ρ( p)), the
isobaric and isopycnal surfaces are parallel to each other. This situation is known
as a barotropic water mass. If density is a function of other parameters (i.e. ρ =
ρ(S, T, p)), the isobaric and isopycnal surfaces may be inclined to each other. This
is known as a baroclinic water mass. The barotropic case is most common in deep
water, while the baroclinic case is typical for the upper layer of the ocean.
Fig. 1.1 Vertical profiles of water temperature T, salinity S, density σt and Väisälä-Brunt frequency
N in Southern Baltic
1.5 Stability of Water Masses 9
1.5 Stability of Water Masses
Understanding the stability of ocean water is the basic requirement needed to under-
stand the physics of internal waves. In general, a fluid element can be in one of the
three states: stable, unstable, or neutral stability. Let us, following Massel (1999),
apply these three stability states to a small element of water in the ocean with some
specific vertical density profiles (see Fig. 1.2). In the stable case a, it is assumed that
water density increases with water depth. Initially at position 1, the forces acting on
a small element of water, i.e. weight of a given volume of water and buoyancy force
are in balance; thus:
ρ(z 1 )V g − W = 0 (1.2)
in which ρ(z) is the water density at the level z = z 1 , V is the volume of the small
element of the water under consideration, and W is the weight of this element of
water.
Suppose now that due to some external force, the water element is moved to
position 2, at the level z 2 . The weight of the water element remains the same, however,
the buoyancy force changes, because of the change of the density of surrounding
water. Thus we have:
ρ(z 2 )V g − W = ρ(z 2 )V g − ρ(z 1 )V g = [ρ(z 2 ) − ρ(z 1 )] V g < 0 (1.3)
Because ρ(z 2 ) < ρ(z 1 ), the resulting force is directed downwards and the water
element tends to sink back to its original level. A similar consideration for the water
element moved to position 3 (level z 3 ) yields the conclusion that an excess buoyancy
force moves the element back to its original position. Thus, case a is related to the
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 1.2 Different profiles of water density: a stable, b unstable, c neutral stability (Massel 1999)
situation defined as stable. A water element approaching its initial position oscillates
around that position, until kinetic energy of the element dissipates.
In the unstable case b, the water density decreases with depth. Hence, the balance
of forces for the water element moved to level z 2 is as follows:
ρ(z 2 )V g − W = [ρ(z 2 ) − ρ(z 1 )] V g > 0 (1.4)
Thus, the water element will be pushed up, away from its initial position. On the
other hand, when the water element is moved from its initial position to position 3
at the level z 3 , the buoyancy is not sufficient to balance the element’s weight. As
a result, the element will sink, moving away from its initial position.
In the neutral case c, the water density remains constant; thus the balance of forces
is satisfied at any position. Such situation is defined as neutral stability.
Consider now a stable profile shown in Fig. 1.2, and assume that the Earth’s
rotation is ignored. From Eq. (1.3), it follows that when a small amount of water is
displaced from its initial position, the resulting force tends to move it back to the
initial position. The movement of the water element is restrained by an inertia force,
and the resulting balance of force can be expressed as follows:

d 2ζ g dρ
ρ 2 + − ζ =0 (1.5)
dt ρ dz
in which ζ is the vertical water displacement or:
d 2ζ
+ N 2 (z)ζ = 0 (1.6)
dt 2
in which the quantity N (z) is known as the Väisälä-Brunt frequency or stability

frequency:

g dρ 1/2
N (z) = − (1.7)
ρ dz
The elementary solution of Eq. (1.6) takes the form (Massel 1999):
ζ (t) = cos(N t) (1.8)
Equation (1.8) represents the simple harmonic motion of an element of the fluid
moving up and down.
Usually frequency N (z) has a maximum in the thermocline where the density
gradient is the greatest, and it decreases both above and below this level, as the
water becomes more homogeneous (see Fig. 1.1). Sometimes multiple maxima in the
vertical profile of N (z) are observed; they correspond to the seasonal thermocline.
For the stable static equilibrium in an incompressible fluid (case a in Fig. 1.2),
∂ρ/∂z < 0, and N 2 > 0. The period 2π/N varies in the ocean from a few minutes
1.5 Stability of Water Masses 11
in the thermocline, to several hours in the deep ocean. In some circumstances, such
as in lakes and in the deep ocean where ∂ p/∂z is very small, the extra term −g 2 /Cs2
(where Cs is the sound speed in the ocean) should be included for the Väisälä-Brunt
frequency N 2 .
In case b (Fig. 1.2), when ∂ρ/∂z > 0, and N 2 < 0, Eq. (1.6) has no solution of
the wave type. In fact, the only solution is:
1/2
g dρ
ζ (t) = cosh t (1.9)
ρ dz
and as t increases, the displacement goes exponentially to infinity. When N = 0, the

water mass is uniform in terms of density.
As will be shown in the following chapters, the frequency N plays a fundamental
role in determining internal wave patterns.
1.6 Governing Equations
For convenience, a short presentation of the basic equations for internal waves is
given. We assume a Cartesian coordinate system x, y, z (z axis positive upward)
with unit vectors i, j, k. The instantaneous velocity components are u ∗ , v∗ , w∗ in
x, y, and z, respectively. Therefore, the total instantaneous velocity vector may be
written as follows:
ut∗ = u ∗ i + v∗ j + w∗ k (1.10)
Let us discuss the continuity and momentum equations (Roberts 1975; Massel 1999)
i.e.:
Dρ ∗
+ ρ ∗ (∇ · ut∗ ) = 0 (1.11)
Dt
in which:
D ∂ ∂ ∂ ∂
= + u∗ + v∗ + w∗ (1.12)
Dt ∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
and
Dut∗
ρ∗ + 2ρ ∗ (Ωv × ut∗ ) + ∇ p ∗ + gρ ∗ k = 0 (1.13)
Dt
where Ωv = Ωx i + Ω y j + Ωz k is the angular velocity of the Earth rotation. In
Eqs. (1.11)–(1.13) incompressible fluid and absence of outside forces is assumed.
We assume now that sea water is incompressible and diffusion is neglected. Thus
we have:
Dρ ∗
=0 (1.14)
Dt
As a consequence of Eq. (1.14), the continuity equation (1.11) becomes:
∇ · ut∗ = 0 (1.15)
For further convenience we represent the basic quantities as sum of a mean, time-
independent background component and perturbation component, resulting from
wave motion, i.e.:
ρ ∗ = ρ(z) + ρ(x, y, z, t) (1.16)
p ∗ = p(x, y, z) + p(x, y, z, t) (1.17)
u ∗ = U (x, y, z) + u(x, y, z, t) (1.18)
v∗ = V (x, y, z) + v(x, y, z, t) (1.19)
w∗ = W (x, y, z) + w(x, y, z, t) (1.20)
Using the representations above, let us rewrite the important density equation (1.14)
as follows:
∂ ∂ ∂ ∂
(ρ + ρ) + u (ρ + ρ) + v (ρ + ρ) + w (ρ + ρ) = 0 (1.21)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
For stationary and horizontally uniform background components we have ∂ρ/∂t =

∂ρ/∂ x = ∂ρ/∂ y = 0. The nonlinear terms in the equation above are negligible for
small amplitude motion. However, the linear term w∂ρ/∂z must be retained. Thus,
Eq. (1.21) can be simplified as follows:
∂ρ ∂ρ
+w =0 (1.22)
∂t ∂z
This equation demonstrates the important fact that the density perturbation at a given
point is generated only by a vertical advection of the background density distribution.
As w = ∂ζ /∂t, we have:

∂ ∂ρ(z)
ρ(x, z, t) + ζ (x, z, t) =0 (1.23)
∂t ∂z
1.6 Governing Equations 13
Therefore, the water density ρ(x, z, t) becomes:
∂ρ(z)
ρ(x, z, t) = −ζ (x, z, t) (1.24)
∂z
Let us present the total velocity ut∗ in the form:
ut∗ = u ∗ i + v∗ j + w∗ k = (U + u)i + (V + v)j + (W + w)k = U + u (1.25)
where:
U=Ui+V j+W k (1.26)
and
u = ui+vj+wk (1.27)
Thus, the momentum Eq. (1.13) becomes:
Dut∗
(ρ + ρ) + 2(ρ + ρ)(Ω × ut∗ ) + ∇( p + p) + g(ρ + ρ)k = 0, (1.28)
Dt
In the absence of motion and outside forces, the vertical component of Eq. (1.13) is:
∂p
+ gρ = 0 (1.29)
∂z
which is the equation of hydrostatics.

In this book the assumption of the Boussinesq fluid is frequently used. The Boussi-
nesq approximation is invoked if the density of the stratified fluid in which the internal
waves propagate varies little over the fluid depth. In fact, in the ocean, the density
varies by only a few per cent from surface to bottom. In the Boussinesq approxi-
mation, the density fluctuations are negligible except for the case when they affect
buoyancy forces (see term g(ρ + ρ)k in Eq. 1.28). Using this assumption we have
from Eq. (1.13) (Roberts 1975):
D(U + u) ∇p gρk
+ 2Ωv × (U + u) + + =0 (1.30)
Dt ρ ρ
Let us now neglect the nonlinear terms assuming that u ∗ and ∇u ∗ are small, so their
product is smaller jet. Also, we take U = 0, Ωx = Ω y = 0, 2Ω E sin ϕ = f , where
Ω E = 7.29 × 10−5 rad s−1 is angular frequency of Earth rotation and ϕ is a latitude
of a given point. The frequency f is known as the inertial frequency.
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There was a time when men of science, and, amongst others, the
French philosopher St. Pierre, believed that icebergs were the snow
and ice of ages accumulated upon an Arctic sea, which, forming at
the Poles, detached themselves from the parent mass. Such an
hypothesis naturally gave rise to many theories, not less ingenious
than startling, as to the effect an incessant accumulation of ice must
produce on the globe itself; and St. Pierre hinted at the possibility of
the huge “domes of ice”—which, as he supposed, rose to an
immense height in the keen frosty heavens of the Poles—suddenly
launching towards the Equator, dissolving under a tropical sun, and
resulting in a second deluge!
In simple language Professor Tyndall furnishes an explanation of
the origin of icebergs, which we may transfer to these pages as
supplementary to the preceding remarks.
ORIGIN of ICEBERGS—EXTENSION OF A GLACIER SEAWARDS.

What is their origin? he asks; and he replies, as we have done,
the Arctic glaciers. From the mountains in the interior the indurated
snows slide into the valleys, and fill them with ice. The glaciers thus
created move, like the Swiss ones, incessantly downward. But the
Arctic glaciers descend to the sea, and even enter it, frequently
ploughing up its bottom into submarine moraines. Undermined by
the continuous action of the waves, and unable to resist the pressure
of their own weight, they break across, and discharge enormous
masses into the ocean. Some of these drift on the adjacent shores,
and often maintain themselves for years. Others float away to the
southward, and pass into the broad Atlantic, where they are finally
dissolved. But a vast amount of heat is demanded for the simple
liquefaction of ice, and the melting of icebergs is on this account so
slow that, when large, they sometimes maintain themselves till they
have been drifted two thousand miles from their place of birth.
Icebergs, then, are fresh-water formations, and though they are
found on a colossal scale only in the Polar seas, yet they are by no
means uncommon among the lofty Alpine lakes.
The monarch of European ice-rivers is the great Aletsch glacier,
at the head of the valley of the Rhone. It is about twenty miles in
length, and collects its materials from the snow-drifts of the grandest
mountains of the Bernese Oberland—the Jungfrau, the Mönch, the
Trugberg, the Aletschhorn, the Breithorn, and the Gletscherhorn.
From the peak of the Æggischhorn the Alpine traveller obtains a
fine view of its river-like course, and he sees beneath him, on the
right hand, and surrounded by sheltering mountains, an object of
almost startling beauty. “Yonder,” says Tyndall,[6] “we see the naked
side of the glacier, exposing glistening ice-cliffs sixty or seventy feet
high. It would seem as if the Aletsch here were engaged in the vain
attempt to thrust an arm through a lateral valley. It once did so; but
the arm is now incessantly broken off close to the body of the glacier,
a great space formerly covered by the ice being occupied by its
water of liquefaction. In this way a lake of the loveliest blue is
formed, which reaches quite to the base of the ice-cliffs, saps them,
as the Arctic waves sap the Greenland glaciers, and receives from
them the broken masses which it has undermined. As we look down
upon the lake, small icebergs sail over the tranquil surface, each
resembling a snowy swan accompanied by its shadow.”
This lake is the Märjelen Sea of the Swiss.
THE ALETSCH GLACIER, SWITZERLAND, FROM THE ÆGGISCHHORN,

SHOWING ITS MORAINES.
THE MÄRJELEN SEA, SWITZERLAND.
Professor Tyndall goes on to describe a spectacle which he
witnessed, and which, as we have seen, is of frequent occurrence in
the Arctic Seas. A large and lonely iceberg was floating in the middle
of the lake. Suddenly he heard a sound like that of a cataract, and on
looking towards the iceberg could see the water teeming from its
sides. Whence came the water? The berg had become top-heavy
through the melting underneath; it was in the act of performing a
somersault, and in rolling over carried with it a vast quantity of water,
which rushed like a waterfall down its sides. And the iceberg, which,
but a moment before, was snowy white, now exhibited the delicate
blue colour characteristic of compact ice. It would soon, however, be
rendered white again by the action of the sun.
We may contrast this picture of the solitary iceberg in the centre
of the dark-blue lake with one which Dr. Hayes describes in his
picturesque voyage in the open Polar Sea.
After passing Upernavik he saw a heavy line of icebergs lying
across his course, and having no alternative, shot in among them.
Some of them proved to be of immense size—upwards of two
hundred feet in height, and a mile in length; others were not larger
than the schooner which wound her way amongst them. Their forms
were as various as their dimensions, from solid wall-sided masses of
dead whiteness, with waterfalls tumbling from them, to an old
weather-worn accumulation of Gothic spires, whose crystal peaks
and sharp angles melted into the blue sky. They seemed to be
endless and innumerable, and so close together that at a little
distance they appeared to form upon the sea an unbroken canopy of
ice.
Dr. Hayes records an adventure which may serve to give the
reader an idea of the nature of the perils encountered by the Arctic
explorer. The ocean-current was carrying his schooner towards a
labyrinth of icebergs at an uncomfortably rapid rate. A boat was
therefore lowered, to moor a cable to a berg which lay grounded at
about a hundred yards distant. While this was being done the
schooner absolutely grazed the side of a berg which rose a hundred
feet above her topmasts, and then slipped past another of smaller
dimensions. But a strong eddy at this moment carried her against a
huge floating mass, and though the shock was slight, it proved
sufficient to disengage some fragments of ice large enough to have
crushed the vessel had they struck her. The berg then began to
revolve, slowly and ponderously, and to settle slowly over the
threatened ship, whose destruction seemed a thing of certainty.
Fortunately, she was saved by the action of the berg. An
immense mass broke off from that part which lay beneath the water-
surface, and this colossal fragment, a dozen times larger than the
schooner, came rushing up within a few yards of them, sending a
vast volume of foam and water flying from its sides. This rupture
arrested the rotatory motion of the berg, which then began to settle
in another direction, and the schooner was able to sheer off.
At this moment the crew were startled by a loud report. Another
and another followed in quick succession, until the din grew
deafening, and the whole air seemed a reservoir of chaotic sounds.
The opposite side of the berg had split off, piece after piece, toppling
a vast volume of ice into the sea, and sending the berg revolving
back upon the ship. Then the side nearest to them underwent the
same singular process of disruption, and came plunging wildly down
into the sea, sending over them a shower of spray, and raising a
swell which rocked the ship to and fro as in a gale of wind, and left
her grinding in the débris of the crumbling ruin.
“The ice was here,
The ice was there,
The ice was all around;
It creaked and growled,
And roared and howled,
Like demons in a swound.”
It is impossible, we should say, for any one who has not had
actual experience of the conditions of the Arctic world, to
comprehend or imagine the immense quantity of ice upborne on its
cold bleak waters. The mere enumeration of the floating bergs at
times defies the navigator. Dr. Hayes once counted as far as five
hundred, and then gave up in despair. Near by they stood out, he
says, in all the rugged harshness of their sharp outlines; and from
this, softening with the distance, they melted away into the clear gray
sky; and there, far off upon the sea of liquid silver, the imagination
conjured up the strangest and most wonderful groups and objects.
Birds and beasts and human forms and architectural designs took
shape in the distant masses of blue and white. The dome of St.
Peter’s was recognizable here; then the spire of a village church
rose sharp and distinct; and under the shadow of the Pyramids
nestled a Byzantine tower and a Grecian temple.
“To the eastward,” says Dr. Hayes, describing a similar scene,
“the sea was dotted with little islets—dark specks upon a brilliant
surface. Icebergs, great and small, crowded through the channels
which divided them, until in the far distance they appeared massed
together, terminating against a snow-covered plain that sloped
upward until it was lost in a dim line of bluish whiteness. This line
could be traced behind the serrated coast as far to the north and
south as the eye could carry. It was the great Mer de Glace[7] which
covers the length and breadth of the Greenland continent. The snow-
covered slope was a glacier descending therefrom—the parent stem
from which had been discharged, at irregular intervals, many of the
icebergs which troubled us so much.”
We have now brought together a sufficient number of data to
assist the reader in forming a vivid conception of those monsters of
the Polar Seas, the icebergs; and to enable him, unless he is very
slow of imagination, to realize to himself what they are, and what
their general aspect is. But we may add one interesting detail,
noticed by Mr. Lament, the persevering seal-hunter, which is very
generally overlooked.
In the course of the brief Arctic summer the increased solar
warmth has a perceptible effect upon the solid ice, and it becomes
undermined and honeycombed, or, as the sailors call it, “rotten,” like
a chalk cliff. It decays fastest, apparently, “between wind and water,”
so that enormous caverns are excavated in the sides of the bergs.
Poets never dreamed of anything more beautiful than these
crystal vaults, which sometimes appear of a deep ultramarine blue,
and at others of an emerald-green tint. One could fancy them the
favourite haunts of mermaids and mermen, and of every kind of sea
monster; but, in truth, no animal ever enters them; the water dashing
in and out through their icy caves and tunnels makes a sonorous but
rather monotonous and melancholy sound. In moderately calm
weather many of these excavated bergs assume the form of gigantic
mushrooms, and all kinds of fantastic outlines; but as soon as a
breeze of wind arises they break up into little pieces with great
rapidity.
Icebergs are met with on every side of the Southern Pole, and on
every meridian of the great Antarctic Ocean. But such is not the case
in the North. In the 360th meridian of longitude which intersects the
parallel of 70° N., icebergs spread over an extent only of about fifty-
five degrees, and this is immediately in and about Greenland and
Baffin Bay. Or, as Admiral Osborn puts it, for 1,375 miles of longitude
we have icebergs, and then for 7,635 geographical miles none are
met with. This fact is, as the same writer calls it, most interesting,
and points strongly to the probability that no extensive area of land
exists about the North Pole; a
supposition strengthened by another fact, that the vast ice-fields off
Spitzbergen show no signs of ever having been in contact with land
or gravel.
FALL OF AN ICEBERG.
Another difficulty which besets the Arctic navigator is the “pack-
ice.”
In winter, the ice from the North Pole descends so far south as to
render the coast of Newfoundland inaccessible; it envelops
Greenland, sometimes even Iceland, and always surrounds and
blocks up Spitzbergen and Novaia Zemlaia. But as the sun comes
north this vast frozen expanse, which stretches over several
thousands of square miles, breaks up into enormous masses. When
these extend horizontally for a considerable distance they are called
ice-fields. A floe is a detached portion of a field; a large area of floes,
closely compact together, is known as pack-ice; while drift-ice is
loose ice in motion, and not so firmly welded as to prevent a ship
from forcing her way through the yielding fragments.
IN AN ICE-PACK, MELVILLE BAY.

This “pack-ice,” however, is the great obstacle to Arctic
exploration; and frequently it presents a barrier which no human
enterprise or skill can overpass. At times, it has been found possible
to cut a channel through it, or it breaks up and opens a water-way
through which the bold adventurer steers. In 1806, Captain Scoresby
forced his ship through two hundred and fifty miles of pack-ice, in
imminent peril, until he reached the parallel of 81° 50’,—his nearest
approach to the Pole. In 1827, Sir Edward Parry gained the latitude
of 82° 45’, by dragging a boat over the ice-fields, but was then
compelled to abandon his daring and hazardous attempt, because
the current carried the ice southward more rapidly than he could
traverse it to the north.
In warm summers this mass of ice will suddenly clear away and
leave an open streak of silver sea along the west coast of
Spitzbergen, varying in width from sixty to one hundred and fifty
miles, and reaching as high as 80° or 80° 30’ N. latitude. It was
through this channel that Scoresby bore his ship on the expedition to
which we have just alluded. A direct course from the Thames, across
the Pole, to Behring Strait is 3,570 geographical miles; by Lancaster
Sound it is 4,660 miles. The Russians would be saved a voyage of
18,000 geographical miles could they strike across the Pole and
through Behring Strait to British Columbia, instead of going by Cape
Horn.
CHANNEL IN AN ICE-FIELD.
Ice-fields, twenty to thirty miles across, are of frequent
occurrence in the great Northern Ocean; sometimes they extend fully
one hundred miles, so closely and solidly packed that no opening,
even for a boat, intervenes between them; they vary in thickness
from ten to forty or even fifty feet. At times these fields, which are
many thousand millions of tons in weight, acquire a rapid rotatory
motion, and dash against one another with a fury of which no words
can give an accurate idea. The reader knows what awful results are
produced by the collision of two railway trains, and may succeed,
perhaps, in forming some feeble conception of this still more
appalling scene when he remembers the huge dimensions and
solidity of the opposing forces. The waters seethe and foam, as if
lashed by a tremendous tempest; the air is smitten into stillness by
the chaos of sounds, the creaking, and rending, and cracking, and
heaving, as the two ice-fields are hurled against each other.
“NIPPED” IN AN ICE-FIELD.
Woe to the ship caught between these grinding masses! No
vessel ever built by human hands could resist their pressure; and
many a whaler, navigating amid the floating fields, especially in foggy
weather, has thus been doomed to destruction. Some have been
caught up like reeds, and flung helplessly upon the ice; others have
been overrun by the ice, and buried beneath the accumulated
fragments; others have been dashed to pieces, and have gone down
suddenly with all on board.
The records of Arctic exploration are full of stories of “hairbreadth
escapes” from the perils of the ice-field and the ice-floe. Here is one
which we borrow from the voyage of the Dorothea and the Trent,
under Captain Buchan and Lieutenant Franklin.
The two vessels were making for Magdalena Bay, when they
were caught in a violent storm, and compelled to heave-to under
storm stay-sails. Next morning (June 30) the ice was seen along the
lee, with a furious sea breaking upon it. Close-reefed sails were out
in the hope of weathering the danger. When Buchan found that this
could not be effected by his ship, a slow and heavy sailer, he
resolved on the desperate expedient of “taking the pack,” in
preference to falling, broadside on, among the roaring breakers and
crashing ice. “Heaven help them!” was the involuntary cry of those
on board the Trent, and the prayer was all the more earnest from the
conviction that a similar fate would soon be their own.
The Dorothea wore, and, impelled by wind and sea, rushed
towards what seemed inevitable destruction; those in the Trent held
their breath while they watched the perilous exploit. The suspense
lasted but a moment, for the vessel, like a snow-flake before the
storm, drove into the awful scene of foam, and spray, and broken
ice, which formed a wall impenetrable to mortal eyesight. Whether
she was lost or saved, the gallant hearts on board the Trent would
never know until they too were forced into a manœuvre which
appeared like rushing into the jaws of death. But it was inevitable;
and when Franklin had made all his preparations, he gave, in firm,
decisive tones, the order to “put up the helm.”
No language, says Admiral Beechey, who was then serving as a
lieutenant on board the Trent, can convey an adequate idea of the
terrific grandeur of the effects produced by the collision of the ice
and the tempestuous ocean. No language, on the other hand, can
convey an idea of the heroic calmness and resolution of Franklin and
his crew. As they approached the terrible scene, Franklin watched
for one opening less hazardous than another; but there was none.
Before them stretched one long line of frightful breakers, immense
blocks of ice heaving, rearing, and hurtling against one another with
a din which rendered the loud voice of the gallant commander almost
inaudible. On the crest of a huge billow the little Trent rushed into the
horrible turmoil; a shock, which quivered through the ship from stem
to stern, and the crew were flung upon the deck, and the masts bent
like willow wands.
“Hold on, for your lives, and stand to the helm, lads!” shouted
Franklin. “Ay, ay, sir,” was the steady response from many a heroic
heart. A billow came thundering against the stern of the brig; would
the brig be engulfed, or would she drive before it? Happily, she
forged ahead, though shaking like a spent race-horse, and with
every timber straining and creaking. Now, thrown broadside on, her
side was remorselessly battered by the floe pieces; then, tossed by
the sea over ice-block after ice-block, she seemed like a plaything in
the grasp of an irresistible power. For some hours this severe trial of
strength and fortitude endured; then the storm subsided as rapidly as
it had arisen, and their gratitude for their own escape was mingled
with joy at the safety of the Dorothea, which they could see in the
distance, still afloat, and with her crew in safety.
On Captain Parry’s second expedition, in 1822, his ships, the
Hecla and the Fury, were placed in a position of scarcely less
danger.
Thus we read of the Hecla, which at the time had been made fast
by means of cables to the land-ice, that a very heavy and extensive
floe caught her on her broadside, and, being backed by another
large body of ice, gradually lifted her stern as if by the action of a
wedge. The weight every moment increasing, her crew were obliged
to veer on the hawsers, whose friction was so great as nearly to cut
through the bitt-heads, and ultimately set them on fire, so that it
became requisite to pour upon them buckets of water. At length the
pressure proved irresistible; the cables snapped; but as the sea was
too full of ice to allow the ship to drive, the only way in which she
could yield to the enormous burden brought to bear upon her was by
leaning over the land-ice, while her stern at the same time was lifted
clean out of the water for fully five feet.
Had another floe backed the one which lifted her, the ship must
inevitably have rolled broadside over, or been rent in twain. But the
pressure which had been so dangerous eventually proved its safety;
for, owing to its increasing weight, the floe on which she was carried
burst upwards, unable to resist its force. The Hecla then righted, and
a small channel opening up amid the driving ice, she was soon got
into comparatively smooth water.
On the following day, shortly before noon, a heavy floe,
measuring some miles in length, came down towards the Fury,
exciting the gravest apprehensions for her safety. In a few minutes it
came in contact, at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, with a point
of the land-ice, breaking it up with a tremendous roar, and forcing
numberless immense masses, perhaps many tons in weight, to the
height of fifty or sixty feet; whence they again rolled down on the
inner or land side, and were quickly succeeded by a fresh supply.
While they were compelled to remain passive spectators of this
grand but terrific sight, being within five or six hundred yards of the
point, the danger they incurred was twofold: first, lest the floe should
swing in and serve the ship in the same unceremonious manner;
and, secondly, lest its pressure should detach the land-ice to which
they were secured, and cast them adrift at the mercy of the tides.
Fortunately, neither of these terrible alternatives occurred, the floe
remaining stationary for the rest of the tide, and setting off with the
ebb when the tide soon afterwards turned.
The reader must not imagine that an ice-field is a smooth and
uniform plain, as level as an English meadow; it is, on the contrary, a
rugged succession of hollows, and of protuberances called
“hummocks,” interspersed with pools of water, and occasionally
intersected by deep fissures. In many parts it can be compared only
to a promiscuous accumulation of rocks closely packed together, and
piled up over the extensive dreary space in great heaps and endless
ridges, leaving scarcely a foot of level surface, and compelling the
traveller to thread his way as best he can among the perplexing
inequalities; sometimes mounting unavoidable obstructions to an
elevation of ten, and again more than a hundred feet, above the
general level.
The interspaces between these closely accumulated ice-masses
are filled up to some extent with drifted snow.
Now, let the reader endeavour to form a definite idea of the scene
presented by an ice-field. Let him watch the slow progress of the
sledges as they wind through the labyrinth of broken ice-tables, the
men and dogs pulling and pushing up their respective loads, as
Napoleon’s soldiers may have done when drawing their artillery
through the rugged Alpine passes, or Lord Napier’s
heroes when they scaled the steep Abyssinian heights. He will see
them clambering over the very summit of lofty ridges, where no gap
occurs, and again descending on the other side, the sledge
frequently toppling over a precipice, sometimes capsizing, and
sometimes breaking.
AMONG THE ICE-HUMMOCKS.
Again: he will see the adventurous party, when baffled in their
attempt to cross or find a pass, breaking a track with shovel and
handspike; or, again, unable even with these appliances to
accomplish their end, they retreat to seek an easier route. Perhaps
they are fortunate enough to discover a kind of gap or gateway, and
upon its winding and uneven surface accomplish a mile or so with
comparative ease. The snow-drifts sometimes prove an assistance,
but more frequently an obstruction; for though their surface is always
hard, it is not always firm to the foot. Then the crust gives way, and
the foot sinks at the very moment when the other is lifted. But, worse
than this, the chasms between the hummocks may be overarched
with snow in such a manner as to leave a considerable space at the
bottom void and empty; then, when everything looks auspicious,
down sinks one of the hapless explorers to his waist, another to the
neck, a third is “lost to sight,” the sledge gives way, and all is
confusion worse confounded! To educe order out of the chaos is
probably the work of hours; especially if the sledge, as is often the
case, must be unloaded. Not unfrequently it is necessary to carry the
cargo in two or three loads; the sledges are coming and going
continually; and the day is one “endless pull and haul.”
Dr. Hayes speaks of an ice-floe, crested with hummocks, and
covered with crusted snow, the solid contents of which lie estimated,
in round numbers, at 6,000,000,000 of tons, its depth being about
one hundred and sixty feet. All around its border was banked up a
kind of rampart of last year’s ice, the loftiest pinnacle of which rose
fully one hundred and twenty feet above the sea-level. This ice-tower
consisted of blocks of ice of every shape and size, piled one upon
another in the greatest disorder. Numerous other towers, or bastions,
equally rugged, though of less elevation, sprang from the same
ridge, and from every part of this desolate area; and “if a thousand
Lisbons were crowded together and tumbled to pieces by the shock
of an earthquake, the scene could hardly be more rugged, nor to
cross the ruins a severer task.”
We must date the origin of a floe like this back to a very remote
period. Probably it was cradled, at the outset, in some deep recess
of the land, where it remained until it had accumulated to a thickness
which defied the summer’s sun and the winter’s winds. Then it would
grow, as the glacier grows, from above; for, like the glacier, it is
wholly composed of fresh ice—that is, of frozen snow. Thus it will be
seen, to quote Dr. Hayes once more, that the accumulation of ice
upon the mountain-tops is in nowise different from the accumulation
which takes place upon these floating fields, where every recurring
year marks an addition to their depth. Vast as they are to the sight,
and pigmies as they are compared with the inland Mer de Glace, yet,
in all that concerns their growth, they are truly glaciers, dwarf floating
glaciers. That only in this manner can they grow to so great a depth
will at once be conceded by the reader, if he recollects that ice soon
reaches a maximum thickness by direct freezing, and that its growth
is arrested by a natural law. Necessarily, this maximum thickness
varies according to the temperature of the locality: but the ice is in
itself the sea’s protection. The cold air cannot absorb the warmth of
the water through more than a certain thickness of ice, and that
thickness attains a final limit long before the winter has reached its
close. The depth of ice formed on the first night is greater than that
formed on the second; on the second is greater than on the third; on
the third greater than on the fourth; and so it continues, until the
increase no longer takes place. In other words, the ratio of increase
of the thickness of ice is in inverse proportion to the duration of the
period of freezing. There comes a time when the water beneath the
ice no longer congeals, because the ice-crust above it protects it
from the action of the atmosphere. Dr. Hayes asserts that he never
saw an Arctic ice-table formed by direct freezing that exceeded
eighteen feet; and he justly adds, that were it not for this all-wise
provision of the Deity,—this natural law, as our men of science term
it,—the Arctic waters would, ages ago, have been solid seas of ice to
their profoundest depths.
Having said thus much about the various forms which the ice
assumes in the Polar seas,—about their icebergs and ice-fields,
pack-ice and drift-ice, and the thick belt of ice which surrounds their
shores,—we may now direct the reader’s attention to their Animal
Life; to the creatures which inhabit them, walrus and seal and whale,
the fishes, the molluscs, and even minuter organisms.
And first we shall begin with the Walrus, which finds a congenial
home in the Arctic wildernesses.
Walrus-hunting is the principal, or at all events the most lucrative,
occupation of the Norse fishermen, who annually betake themselves
to the cheerless shores oi Spitzbergen in search of booty. Their life is
a terribly hard and dangerous one; and Mr. Lamont, who has had
much experience of them, observes that they all have a restless,
weary look about the eyes,—a look as if contracted by being
perpetually in the presence of peril. They are wild, rough, and
reckless; but they are also bold, hardy, and enduring of cold, hunger,
fatigue; active and energetic while at sea, though sadly intemperate
during their winter-holiday.
The vessels engaged in the seal-fishery and walrus-hunting are
fitted out by the merchants of Tromsöe and Hammerfest, who have,
of late years, adopted the system of sharing their proceeds with their
crews, thus giving them a direct interest in the prosperity of the
expedition. The ship is fitted out and provisioned by the owners, who
also advance to the men what money they may require to purchase
clothing and to make provision for their families during their absence.
Then they allot one-third of the gross receipts of the adventure to the
crew, dividing it into shares, three for the captain, two for the
harpooneer, and one each for the common men. So that if a fairly
successful voyage should realize in skins, blubber, and ivory a sum
of two thousand dollars, and the number of hands amounts to ten,
the usual strength of a seal-ship’s crew, each will receive forty-seven
and a half dollars, or about £10,—a very considerable sum for a
Norwegian.
Each ship carries a couple of boats, and a walrus-boat, capable
of holding five men, which measures twenty-one feet in length by five
feet beam, having her main breadth at about seven feet from the
bow. She is bow-shaped at both ends, and so built as to turn easily
on her own centre, besides being strong, light, and easy to row.
Each man plies a pair of oars hung in “grummets” to stout thole-pins;
the steersman directs the boat by also rowing a pair of oars, but with
his face to the bow; and as there are six thwarts, he can, if
necessary, sit and row like the others. By this arrangement the
strength of the men is economized, and the boat is more swiftly
turned when in pursuit of the walrus.
The steersman also acts as harpooneer, and, of course, sits in
the bow. The strongest man in the boat is usually placed next to him,
to hold and haul in the line when a walrus is struck, and it is his duty
to hand the harpoons and lances to the harpooneer as required.
HUNTING THE WALRUS.
Each boat—which, by the way, is painted white, so as to
resemble the ice amongst which it moves—is usually provided with
three harpoon-heads inside the bow, on each side: these fit into little
racks of painted canvas, so that their keen points and edges may not
be blunted, and to prevent them from injuring the men. The harpoons
serve equally well for seal and walrus, and, simple as they seem and
are, answer admirably the purpose for which they are designed. The
weapon is thrust into the animal; its struggles tighten the line; the
large outer barb then catches up a loop of its tenacious hide, or the
tough reticulated fibres containing its blubber; while the small inner
barb, like that of a fish-hook, prevents it from being detached or
loosened. When a walrus has been properly struck, and the line
hauled taut, it rarely escapes. To each harpoon a line of twelve or
fifteen fathoms long is attached: a sufficient length, as the walrus is

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Internal Gravity Waves in the Shallow

Seas 1st Edition Stanis■aw R. Massel

The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia 1st Edition Igor

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Waves in Continuous Media 1st Edition S. L. Gavrilyuk

The Hunt for Earth Gravity: A History of Gravity

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Internal Gravity Waves

ISSN 2190-5193 ISSN 2190-5207 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943450

Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media

Geophysics Paweł Rowiński

Robert Anczkiewicz Bertrand Fritz

Antonio Meloni Jacek Tronczynski

problems. The reader is assumed to have a working knowledge of calculus, and a

Sopot Stanisław R. Massel

1 Introducing Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 Internal Waves in Two-Layer Sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3 Waves in a Continuously Stratified Sea of Constant

3.9 Remarks on Wave Induced Mixing in a Stratified Fluid ....... 81

4 Waves in a Continuously Stratified Sea of Varying Depth . ...... 87

5 Generation of Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 109

6 Spectral Properties of Internal Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

7 Internal Waves in the Baltic Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 131

Appendix A: Sea Water Density According to UNESCO Formula . . . . 153

Appendix B: Determination of Isopycnal Displacements

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 1

1.2 Internal Ocean Waves and Their Significance

1.3 Experimental Insights into Internal Waves

1.4 Useful Definitions

Thus, the potential density σt = 25 kg m−3 corresponds to the density ρ equal to

1.5 Stability of Water Masses

ρ(z 2 )V g − W = ρ(z 2 )V g − ρ(z 1 )V g = [ρ(z 2 ) − ρ(z 1 )] V g < 0 (1.3)

(a) (b) (c)

ρ(z 2 )V g − W = [ρ(z 2 ) − ρ(z 1 )] V g > 0 (1.4)

in which ζ is the vertical water displacement or:

in which the quantity N (z) is known as the Väisälä-Brunt frequency or stability

ζ (t) = cos(N t) (1.8)

and as t increases, the displacement goes exponentially to infinity. When N = 0, the

1.6 Governing Equations

ρ ∗ = ρ(z) + ρ(x, y, z, t) (1.16)

p ∗ = p(x, y, z) + p(x, y, z, t) (1.17)

u ∗ = U (x, y, z) + u(x, y, z, t) (1.18)

v∗ = V (x, y, z) + v(x, y, z, t) (1.19)

w∗ = W (x, y, z) + w(x, y, z, t) (1.20)

For stationary and horizontally uniform background components we have ∂ρ/∂t =

Therefore, the water density ρ(x, z, t) becomes:

Let us present the total velocity ut∗ in the form:

ut∗ = u ∗ i + v∗ j + w∗ k = (U + u)i + (V + v)j + (W + w)k = U + u (1.25)

U=Ui+V j+W k (1.26)

Thus, the momentum Eq. (1.13) becomes:

which is the equation of hydrostatics.

ORIGIN of ICEBERGS—EXTENSION OF A GLACIER SEAWARDS.

THE ALETSCH GLACIER, SWITZERLAND, FROM THE ÆGGISCHHORN,

IN AN ICE-PACK, MELVILLE BAY.

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