Dispersion relation of internal waves in thewestern equatorial Pacific Ocean

Based mainly on TOGA-COARE data, that is, the CTD data from R/V Xiangyanghong No. 5 (Pu et al., 1993), the temperature and current data from the Woods Hole mooring and other deep current data, the layered numerical profiles of buoyancy frequency and mean current components are figured out. A numerical method calculating internal wave dispersion relation without background shear current, used by Fliegel and Hunkins (1975), is improved to be fit for the internal wave equation with mean currents and their second derivatives. The dispersion relations and wave functions of the long crested internal wave progressing in any direction can be calculated conveniently by using the improved method. A comparison between the calculated dispersion relation in the paper and the dispersion relation in GM spectral model of ocean internal waves (Garret and Munk, 1972) is performed. It shows that the mean currents are important to the dispersion relation of internal waves in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean and that the currents make the wave progressing co-directional with (against) the currents stretched (shrink). The influence of the mean currents on dispersion relation is much stronger than that of their second derivatives, but that on wave function is less than that of their second derivatives. The influences on wave functions result in the change of vertical wavenumber, that is, making the wave function stretch or shrink. There exists obvious turning depth but no significant critical layer absorption is found.