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Modal decomposition of tidally-forced internal waves (reconstructed from timeseries data)
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- Author / Creator
- Kaminski, Alexis K.
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An algorithm is presented that disentangles the temporal and spatial structure
of polychromatic internal wave fields generated through tidal conversion
without a-priori knowledge of the topographic details. This spatial structure
is relevant in estimating the location of ocean mixing. Using the (J+1) forcing
frequencies associated with the wave field, a 2(J +1)×2(J +1) system is
solved yielding, mode-by-mode, the frequency-specific mode strengths γjn or
normalized mode strength ratios γjn/|γj1|, where j = 0, . . . , J. Both linear and
nonlinear stratifications are considered.
Synthetic data at laboratory and oceanographic length scales are used for
verification. Excellent agreement is seen between recovered mode strengths and
theoretical values from the synthetic data when using exact forcing frequencies.
When forcing frequencies are determined via fast Fourier transform, the agreement
is slightly less robust, with up to 18% error, although qualitative trends
are still well captured. The algorithm may therefore be extended to problems
of internal wave generation beyond tidal conversion. -
- Graduation date
- Fall 2012
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.