Acoustic propagation uncertainty in internal wave environments using an ocean-acoustic joint model

An ocean-acoustic joint model is developed for research of acoustic propagation uncertainty in internal wave environments.The internal waves are numerically produced by tidal forcing over a continental slope using an ocean model.Three parameters(i.e.,internal wave,source depth,and water depth)contribute to the dynamic waveguide environments,and result in stochastic sound fields.The sensitivity of the transmission loss(TL)to environment parameters,statistical characteristics of the TL variation,and the associated physical mechanisms are investigated by the Sobol sensitivity analysis method,the Monte Carlo sampling,and the coupled normal mode theory,respectively.The results show that the TL is most sensitive to the source depth in the near field,resulted from the initial amplitudes of higher-order modes;while in middle and far fields,the internal waves are responsible for more than 80%of the total acoustic propagation contribution.In addition,the standard deviation of the TL in the near field and the shallow layer is smaller than those in the middle and far fields and the deep layer.

Asymmetric chlorophyll responses enhanced by internal waves near the Dongsha Atoll in the South China Sea

Internal waves(IWs)are small-scale physical processes that occur frequently in stratified marginal seas.IWs are ubiquitous and well documented in the northern South China Sea(n SCS),but few studies have explored the ecosystem responses to the IWs.MODISA chlorophyll-a(Chl-a)data from 2002 to 2014 were used to examine the distribution of Chl a near the Dongsha Atoll(DSA).Composite Chl a from about 40 IWs during spring and summer showed stronger response on the northern side than on the southern side of the DSA.One day after the passage of IWs,composite surface Chl a on the northern side increased from 0.11 mg/m3 to a maximum mean value of 0.18 mg/m3.It decreased to 0.13 mg/m3 after two days and maintained that level for several days after the passage of IWs.The enhanced surface Chl a likely caused subsurface Chl-a maximum and nutrients in the surface layer.Approximately 64%of the increase in surface Chl a was due to the uplift of the subsurface Chl-a maximum one day after the passage of IWs,while nutrient-induced new phytoplankton growth contributed about 18%of the increase a few days later.When the IWs occurred frequently in spring and summer,Chl-a level on the northern side was about 30%higher than that on the southern side.IW dissipation and its impact on nutrients and chlorophyll were stronger on the northern side of the DSA than on the south,which caused a north-south asymmetric distribution of Chl a in the region.

Strip segmentation of oceanic internal waves in SAR images based on TransUNet

The development of oceanic remote sensing artificial intelligence has made possible to obtain valuable information from amounts of massive data.Oceanic internal waves play a crucial role in oceanic activity.To obtain oceanic internal wave stripes from synthetic aperture radar(SAR)images,a stripe segmentation algorithm is proposed based on the TransUNet framework,which is a combination of U-Net and Transformer,which is also optimized.Through adjusting the number of Transformer layer,multi-layer perceptron(MLP)channel,and Dropout parameters,the influence of over-fitting on accuracy is significantly weakened,which is more conducive to segmenting lightweight oceanic internal waves.The results show that the optimized algorithm can accurately segment oceanic internal wave stripes.Moreover,the optimized algorithm can be trained on a microcomputer,thus reducing the research threshold.The proposed algorithm can also change the complexity of the model to adapt it to different date scales.Therefore,TransUNet has immense potential for segmenting oceanic internal waves.

The effect of Typhoon Kalmaegi on the modal energy and period of internal waves near the Dongsha Islands(South China Sea)

The influence of Typhoon Kalmaegi on internal waves near the Dongsha Islands in the northeastern South China Sea was investigated using mooring observation data.We observed,for the first time,that the phenomenon of regular variation characteristics of the 14-d spring-neap cycle of diurnal internal tides(ITs)can be regulated by typhoons.The diurnal ITs lost the regular variation characteristics of the 14-d spring-neap cycle during the typhoon period owing to the weakening of diurnal coherent ITs,represented by O_(1)and K_(1),and the strengthening of diurnal incoherent ITs.Results of quantitative analysis showed that during the pre-typhoon period,timeaveraged modal kinetic energy(sum of Modes 1–5)of near-inertial internal waves(NIWs)and diurnal and semidiurnal ITs were 0.62 kJ/m^(2),5.66 kJ/m^(2),and 1.48 kJ/m^(2),respectively.However,during the typhoon period,the modal kinetic energy of NIWs increased 5.11 times,mainly due to the increase in high-mode kinetic energy.At the same time,the modal kinetic energy of diurnal and semidiurnal ITs was reduced by 68.9%and 20%,respectively,mainly due to the decrease in low-mode kinetic energy.The significantly reduced diurnal ITs during the typhoon period could be due to:(1)strong nonlinear interaction between diurnal ITs and NIWs,and(2)a higher proportion of high-mode diurnal ITs during the typhoon period,leading to more energy dissipation.

Analysis of a simplification strategy in a nonhydrostatic model for surface and internal wave problems

This paper examines the simplification strategy of retaining only the nonhydrostatic effect of local acceleration in a three-dimensional fully nonhydrostatic model regarding the submesoscale wave phenomenon in the ocean.Elaborate scale analysis of the vertical component of the Reynold-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS)equation was performed,confirming the rationalization of this simplification.Then,the simplification was implemented in a RANS equation-based nonhydrostatic model NHWAVE(nonhydrostatic WAVE)to make a simplified nonhydrostatic model.Numerical examples were taken to test its performance,including surface sinusoidal waves propagating on an idealized East China Sea topography,tidally induced internal lee waves and small-scale solitary waves.The results show that in a considerably wide range of nonlinear strengths,the simplified nonhydrostatic model can obtain similar results as those in the fully nonhydrostatic model,even for smaller-scale solitary waves.Nonlinearity influences the applicability of the simplification.The stronger the nonlinearity is,the worse the simplified model describes the nonhydrostatic phenomenon.In general,the simplified nonhydrostatic model can simulate surface waves better than internal waves.Improvement of computational efficiency in the simplified nonhydrostatic model is reasonable,reducing the central processing unit time duration in the fully nonhydrostatic model by 16.4%–20.6%.The specially designed algorithm based on the simplified nonhydrostatic equation can remarkably reduce the computational time.

Effects of internal waves on signal temporal correlation length in the South China Sea

We simulated the temporal correlation of sound transmission using a two-dimensional advective frozen-ocean model with temperature data from a temperature sensor array on a propagation path in the South China Sea （SCS） Experiment 2009, and investigated the relationships of temporal correlation length, source-receiver range, and maximal sound speed fluctuation mainly caused by the solitary internal waves. We found that the temporal correlation length is -h2-power dependent on source-receiver range and -0.9-power dependent on maximal sound speed fluctuation. The empirical relationship is deduced from one-day environmental measurements in a limited area, needing more works and verification in the future with more acoustic data. But the relationship is useful in many applications in the area of SCS Experiment 2009.

Study of the propagation direction of the internal waves in the South China Sea using satellite images

Internal wave propagation carries considerable vertical shear which can lead to turbulence and mixing. Based on the analysis of more than 2 500 synthetic aperture radar （SAR） and optical satellite images, the in- ternal wave propagation in the whole South China Sea was investigated systematically. The results show that （1） in the northeastern South China Sea, most internal waves propagate westward from the Luzon Strait and are diffracted by coral reefs near the Dongsha Islands. Some impinge onto the shelf and a few are reflected; （2） in the northwestern South China Sea, most internal waves are generated at the shelf and propagate northwestward or westward to the coast; （3） in the western South China Sea, most internal waves propagate westward to the Vietnamese coast, except a few propagate southward to the deep sea; and （4） in the southern South China Sea, most internal waves propagate southwestward to the coast. Some prop- agate southeastward to the coast of Kalimantan Island, and a few propagate southeastward because of the influence of the Mekon~ River.

Study on the amplitude inversion of internal waves at Wenchang area of the South China Sea

The field experiment is conducted from April 16, 2005 to July 20, 2005 at Wenchang area east of Hainan Island （19~35＇N, l12~E） of China. Internal wave packets are observed frequently with thermistor chains during the experiment. Meanwhile, internal waves are also detected from a synthetic aperture radar （SAR） image on June 19, 2005 and several other moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer （MODIS） images near a mooring position. The distance between the positive and negative peaks induced by the internal wave can be obtained from satellite images. Combined with remote sensing images and in situ data, a new method to inverse the amplitude of the internal wave is proposed based on a corrected nonlinear Schr6dinger （NLS） equation. Two relationships are given between the peak-to-peak distance and the characteristic wavelength of the internal wave for different nonlinear and dispersion coefficients. Based on the satellite images, the amplitude inversion of the internal waves are carried out with the NLS equation as well as the KdV equation. The calculated amplitudes of the NLS equation are close to the observation amplitude which promise the NLS equation a reliable method.

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.

On generation source sites of internal waves in the Luzon Strait

This effort aims to determine the generation source sites in the Luzon Strait for energetic, long-crest, transbasin internal waves （IW） observed in the northern South China Sea （NSCS）. The roles of islands distributed on eastern side of the strait, Kuroshio, submarine ridges, shoaling thennocline, and strait configuration played in the IW generation are examined using the cruise data analysis, satellite data interpretation, and dynamical analysis. The islands and channels on eastern side of the strait are excluded from a list of possible IW source sites owing to their unmatched horizontal dimensions to the scale of IW crest line length, and the relative low Reynolds number. The Kuroshio has a potential to be a radiator for the long-crest IW disturbances, meanwhile, the Kurosbio west （east） wing absorbs the eastward （westward） propagating IW disturbance. Namely, the Kuroshio blockades the outside west-east propagating IW disturbances. The 3-D configuration of the Luzon Strait is characterized by a sudden, more than one order widening of the cross-section areas at the outlets on both sides, providing a favorable condition for IW type initial disturbance formation. In the Luzon Strait, the thermocline is featured by a westward shoaling all the year around, providing the dynamical conditions for the amplitude growth （declination） to the westward （eastward） propagating IW type disturbance. Thus, the west slope of western submarine ridge at the western outlet of the Luzon Strait is a high possibility source sites for energetic, long-crest, transbasin IWs in the NSCS. The interpretation results of satellite SAR images during a 13 a period from 1995 to 2007 provide the convincing evidence for the conclusions.

Oceanic pycnocline depth retrieval from SAR imagery in the existence of solitary internal waves

Oceanic pycnocline depth is usually inferred from in situ measurements. It is attempted to estimate the depth remotely. As solitary internal waves occur on oceanic pycnocline and propagate along it, it is possible to retrieve the depth indirectly in virtue of the solitary internal waves. A numerical model is presented for retrieving the pycnocline depth from synthetic aperture radar （SAR） images where the solitary internal waves are visible and when ocean waters are fully stratified. This numerical model is constructed by combining the solitary internal wave model and a two-layer ocean model. It is also assumed that the observed groups of solitary internal wave packets on the SAR imagery are generated by local semidiurnal tides. A case study in the East China Sea shows a good agreement with in situ CTD （conductivity-temperature-depth） data.

Experimental Study on Ocean Internal Wave Force on Vertical Cylinders in Different Depths

A series of experimental studies about the force of internal solitary wave and internal periodic wave on vertical cylinders have been carried out in a two-dimensional layered internal wave flume. The internal solitary waves are produced by means of gravitational collapse at the layer thickness ratio of 0.2, and the internal periodic waves are produced with rocker-flap wave maker at the layer thickness ratio of 0.93. The wave parameters are obtained through dyeing photography. The vertical cylinders of the same size are arranged in different depths. The horizontal force on each cylinder is measured and the vertical distribution rules are researched. The internal wave heights are changed to study the impact of wave heights on the force. The results show that the horizontal force of concave type internal solitary wave on vertical cylinder in the upper-layer fluid has the same direction as the wave propagating, while it has an opposite direction in the lower-layer. The horizontal force is not evenly distributed in the lower fluid. And the force at different depths increases along with wave height. Internal solitary wave can produce an impact load on the entire pile. The horizontal force of internal periodic waves on the vertical cylinders is periodically changed at the frequency of waves. The direction of the force is opposite in the upper and lower layers, and the value is close. In the upper layer except the depth close to the interface, the force is evenly distributed; but it tends to decrease with the deeper depth in the lower layer. A periodic shear load can be produced on the entire pile by internal periodic waves, and it may cause fatigue damage to structures.

Study on Internal Waves Generated by Tidal Flow over Critical Topography

Resonance due to critical slope makes the internal wave generation more effectively than that due to supercritical or subcritical slopes(Zhang et al., 2008). Submarine ridges make a greater contribution to ocean mixing than continental margins in global oceans(Müller, 1977; Bell, 1975; Baines, 1982; Morozov, 1995). In this paper, internal wave generation driven by tidal flow over critical topography is examined in laboratory using Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV) and synthetic schlieren methods in synchrony. Non-tidal baroclinic velocities and vertical isopycnal displacements are observed in three representative regions, i.e., critical, outward-propagating, and reflection regions. Temporal and spatial distributions of internal wave rays are analyzed using the time variations of baroclinic velocities and vertical isopycnal displacement, and the results are consistent with those by the linear internal wave theory. Besides, the width of wave beam changes with the outward propagation of internal waves. Finally, through monitoring the uniformly-spaced 14 vertical profiles in the x-z plane, the internal wave fields of density and velocity fields are constructed. Thus, available potential energy, kinetic energy and energy fluxes are determined quantitatively. The distributions of baroclinic energy and energy fluxes are confined along the internal wave rays. The total depth averaged energy and energy flux of vertical profiles away from a ridge are both larger than those near the ridge.

Dynamical analysis of mesoscale eddy-induced ocean internal waves using linear theories

This study aims to explore generation mechanisms of the ocean internal wave using the dynamical analysis methods based on linear theories. Historical cruise measurements and recent synthetic aperture radar （SAR） observations of mesoscale eddies with diameter of several tens of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers show that the internal wave packets with wavelength of hundreds of meters to kilometer exist inside the mesoscale eddies. This coexistence phenomenon and inherent links between the two different scale processes are revealed in the solutions of governing equations and boundary conditions for the internal wave disturbance with a horizontally slowly variable amplitude in a cylindrical coordinate system. The theoretical solutions indicate that the instability of eddy current field provides the dynamical mechanism to internal wave generation. The derived dispersion relation indicates that the internal wave propagation is modified by the eddy current field structure. The energy equation of the internal waves clearly shows the internal wave energy increment comes from the eddy. The theoretical models are used to explain the observation of the mesoscale eddy-induced internal waves off the Norwegian coast. The two-dimensional waveform solution of the anticyclonic eddy-induced internal wave packet appears as ring-shaped curves, which contains the typical features of eddy stream lines. The comparison of theoretical solutions to the structure of the internal wave packets on SAR image shows a good agreement on the major features.

The first quantitative remote sensing of ocean internal waves by Chinese GF-3 SAR satellite

Quantitative analysis and retrieval is given by the State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics（SOED）,Second Institute of Oceanography（SIO）,State Oceanic Administration（SOA）,China,from the first batch of GF-3 synthetic aperture radar（SAR）data with ocean internal wave features in the Yellow Sea.

A parameterization scheme of vertical mixing due to inertial internal wave breaking in the ocean general circulation model

Based on the theoretical spectral model of inertial internal wave breaking （fine structure） proposed previ- ously, in which the effects of the horizontal Coriolis frequency component f-tilde on a potential isopycnal are taken into account, a parameterization scheme of vertical mixing in the stably stratified interior be- low the surface mixed layer in the ocean general circulation model （OGCM） is put forward preliminarily in this paper. Besides turbulence, the impact of sub-mesoscale oceanic processes （including inertial internal wave breaking product） on oceanic interior mixing is emphasized. We suggest that adding the inertial inter- hal wave breaking mixing scheme （F-scheme for short） put forward in this paper to the turbulence mixing scheme of Canuto et al. （T-scheme for short） in the OGCM, except the region from 15°S to 15°N. The numeri- cal results ofF-scheme by usingWOA09 data and an OGCM （LICOM, LASG/IAP climate system ocean model） over the global ocean are given. A notable improvement in the simulation of salinity and temperature over the global ocean is attained by using T-scheme adding F-scheme, especially in the mid- and high-latitude regions in the simulation of the intermediate water and deep water. We conjecture that the inertial internal wave breaking mixing and inertial forcing of wind might be one of important mechanisms maintaining the ventilation process. The modeling strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation （AMOC） by using T-scheme adding F-scheme may be more reasonable than that by using T-scheme alone, though the physical processes need to be further studied, and the overflow parameterization needs to be incorporated. A shortcoming in F-scheme is that in this paper the error of simulated salinity and temperature by using T-scheme adding F-scheme is larger than that by using T-scheme alone in the subsurface layer.

A numerical study on the generation of a distinct type of nonlinear internal wave packet in the South China Sea

A distinct type of nonlinear internal-wave packet, with the largest internal solitary wave in the middle of the packet, was regularly observed in the South China Sea during the Asian Seas International Acoustics Experiment in 2001. Data analysis shows that the occurrence of the distinct internal wave packet is closely related with the occurrence of lower-high internal tides; the internal tides are mixed in the experimental area and, thus, there is diurnal inequality between the heights of two neighboring internal tides. Modeling of internal tides and internal solitary waves in a shoaling situation suggests that this type of wave packet can be generated in the South China Sea by the large shoaling of internal solitary waves and internal tides. Both the internal solitary waves and the internal tides come from the direction of Luzon Strait. The initial large internal solitary waves contribute to the occurrence of the largest internal solitary wave in the middle of the packet and the waves behind the largest intemal solitary wave, while the shoaling internal tides bring about the nonlinear internal waves in front of the largest internal solitary wave via interaction with the local shelf topography.

Evolution and breaking of a propagating internal wave in stratified ocean

The evolution and breaking of a propagating internal wave are directly numerically simulated using a pseudo-spectral method. The mechanism of PSI （ parametric subharmonic instability） involved in the evolution is testified clearly. It dominates gradually in nonlinear resonant interactions. As a consequence, the energy cascades to a second plant wave packet which has lower frequencies and higher wavenumbers than that of the primary wave. With the growth of this wave packet, wave breaking occurs and causes strongly nonlinear regime, i.e. stratified turbulence. The strong mixing and intermittent of the turbulence can be learned from the evolution of the total energy and kurtosis of vorticity vs. time. Some statistic properties of the stratified turbulence are also analyzed, including the spectra of KE （kinetic energy） and PE （potential energy）. The results show that the PE spectra display a wavenumber range scaling as 0. 2 N^4ky^-3 （N is the Brunt - Vaisala frequency, k, is the vertical wavenumber）, which is called buoyancy sub-range. However, the KE spectra cannot satisfy the negative cubic law of vertical wavenumber, which have a much larger downtrend than that of the PE spectra, for the potential energy is transferred more efficiently toward small scales than the kinetic energy. The Cox number of diapycnal diffusivity is also calculated, and it shows a good consistency with the observations and deductions in the ocean interior, during the stage of the stratified turbulence maintaining a fairly active level.

Shallow Water Modal Evolution Due to Nonlinear Internal Waves

Acoustic modal behavior is reported for an L-shape hydrophone array during the passage of a strong nonlinear internal wave packet. Acoustic track is nearly parallel to the front of nonlinear internal waves. Through modal decomposition at the vertical array, acoustic modes are identified. Modal evolution along the horizontal array then is examined during a passing internal wave. Strong intensity fluctuations of individual modes are observed before and during the internal waves packet passes the fixed acoustic track showing a detailed evolution of the waveguide modal behavior. Acoustic refraction created either uneven distribution of modal energy over the horizontal array or additional returns observable at the entire L-shape array. Acoustic ray-mode simulations are used to phenomenologically explain the observed modal behavior.

Impacts of internal waves on chlorophyll a distribution in the northern portion of the South China Sea

Internal waves can bring nutrients to the upper level of water bodies and facilitate phytoplankton photosynthesis.Internal waves occur frequently in the northern portion of the South China Sea and inflict an important effect on chlorophyll a distribution.In this study,in-situ observation and satellite remote sensing data were used to study the effects of internal waves on chlorophyll a distribution.Based on the in-situ observations,lower chlorophyll a concentrations were present in the middle and bottom level in areas in which internal waves occur frequently,while the surface chlorophyll a distribution increased irregularly,and a small area with relatively higher chlorophyll a concentrations was observed in the area around the Dongsha Island.Satellite remote sensing showed that the chlorophyll a concentration increased in the area near Dongsha Island,where internal waves frequently occurred.The results of the increased chlorophyll a concentration in the surface water near Dongsha Island in the northern portion of the South China Sea indicated that internal waves could uplift phytoplankton and facilitate phytoplankton growth.