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Experiments on leapfrogging internal solitary waves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

P. D. Weidman  and
M. Johnson
P. D. Weidman
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007 Present address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309.
M. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007
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Abstract

Experiments on the resonant energy transfer between internal gravity-wave solitons travelling along neighbouring pycnoclines have been performed. Measurements of both amplitude and phase oscillations are found to be in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions given in the companion paper by Liu, Pereira & KO (1982). Using averaged quantities to account approximately for wave-energy dissipation, the theoretical expression correlating the oscillation frequency with the density environ- ment parameters is reasonably well verified. A new three-soliton resonance requiring both upstream and downstream energy transfer has also been observed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 122 , September 1982 , pp. 195 - 213
Copyright
© 1982 Cambridge University Press

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