Characteristics of Short-Period Internal Waves in the Avacha Bay Based on the In Situ and Satellite Observations in August-September, 2018

E. I. Svergun1, 2, ✉, A. V. Zimin1, 2

1 Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

2 Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation

✉ e-mail: egor-svergun@yandex.ru

Abstract

Purpose. The paper is aimed at evaluating the characteristics of short-period internal waves in different regions of the Avacha Bay in the Рacific Ocean concerning their hydrological and morphometric conditions.

Methods and Results. The characteristics of internal waves are assessed through synthesizing the results of the in situ studies in the Avacha Bay in August-September, 2018, the high-resolution remote sensing data and the results of tidal modeling. The data of the in situ and satellite observations of internal waves were also directly compared. The results show that in the shallow part of the Avacha Bay, the waves, whose heights are from 10 to 15 m were observed. They constitute 10 % of the total number of cases. In the deep-water part of the bay, the internal waves are also often observed, but their maximum height does not exceed 10 m. The satellite images show 72 manifestations of short-period internal waves. Some of them spread to the coast with a tidal frequency from the generation source located around the 500 m isobath where the bottom abruptly slows down.

Conclusions. The results of the investigation revealed a pronounced relationship between the wave trains recorded in the shallow-water area and the semidiurnal tidal dynamics. Analysis of the hydrological situation and the satellite images permitted to assume that the internal waves could be generated as a result of not only a barotropic tide collapse, but also due to the inertial oscillations of the frontal zone formed by the Kamchatka current meanders in the presence of a shallow sharpened pycnocline. Having been analyzed, the synchronous satellite and in situ observations made it possible to find out that the internal waves of the 5–8 m height were distinctly manifested on the sea surface in case the pycnocline depth was 10–20 m.

Keywords

intensive internal waves, expedition observations, satellite images, phase velocity, tidal currents

Acknowledgements

The results of expedition research were processed within the framework of the state tasks No. 0149-2019-0015 “Wave processes, transport phenomena and biogeochemical cycles in the seas and oceans: investigation of forming mechanisms on the basis of physical and mathematical modeling and field experiments”. The results of satellite observations were processed within the framework of the RFBR grant No. 18-35-20078 mol_a_ved. The authors are grateful to N.V. Sandalyuk, the research engineer at Saint Petersburg State University, for his assistance in selecting the operational modeling data, as well as to N.N. Shpilev and D.I. Dudko, the engineers of the Krylov State Research Center, for their participation in the expedition studies.

Original russian text

Original Russian Text © E. I. Svergun, A. V. Zimin, 2020, published in MORSKOY GIDROFIZICHESKIY ZHURNAL, Vol. 36, Iss. 3 (2020)

For citation

Svergun, E.I. and Zimin, A.V., 2020. Characteristics of Short-Period Internal Waves in the Avacha Bay Based on the In Situ and Satellite Observations in August-September, 2018. Physical Oceanography, 27(3), pp. 278-289. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2020-3-278-289

DOI

10.22449/1573-160X-2020-3-278-289

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