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Evolution of Nonlinear Internal Waves in China SeasSynthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from ERS-I have been used to study the characteristics of internal waves of Taiwan in the East China Sea, and east of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Rank-ordered packets of internal solitons propagating shoreward from the edge of the continental shelf were observed in the SAR images. Based on the assumption of a semidiurnal tidal origin, the wave speed can be estimated and is consistent with the internal wave theory. By using the SAR images and hydrographic data, internal waves of elevation have been identified in shallow water due to a thicker mixed layer as compared with the bottom layer on the continental shelf. The generation mechanism includes the influences of the tide and the Kuroshio intrusion across the continental shelf for the formations of elevation internal waves. The effects of water depth on the evolution of solitons and wave packets are modeled by nonlinear Kortweg-deVries (KdV) type equation and linked to satellite image observations. The numerical calculations of internal wave evolution on the continental shelf have been performed and compared with the SAR observations. For a case of depression waves in deep water, the solitons first disintegrate into dispersive wave trains and then evolve to a packet of elevation waves in the shallow water area after they pass through a turning point of approximately equal layer depths has been observed in the SAR image and simulated by numerical model.
Document ID
20000038406
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Liu, Antony K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Hsu, Ming-K.
(National Taiwan Ocean Univ. Keelung, Taiwan, Province of China)
Liang, Nai K.
(National Taiwan Univ. Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1997
Publication Information
Publication: Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Research Publications
Subject Category
Oceanography
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space at the Service of Our Environment
Location: Florence
Country: Italy
Start Date: March 17, 1997
End Date: March 21, 1997
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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