Ostrovsky L. A. and K. R. Helfrich (January 2011): Strongly nonlinear, simple internal waves in continuously-stratified, shallow fluids. Nonlinear Proc. Geophys., 18 (1), 91-102. doi:10.5194/npg-18-91-2011

Abstract

Strongly nonlinear internal waves in a layer with arbitrary stratification are considered in the hydrostatic approximation. It is shown that "simple waves" having a variable vertical structure can emerge from a wide class of initial conditions. The equations describing such waves have been obtained using the isopycnal coordinate as a variable. Emergence of simple waves from an initial Gaussian impulse is numerically investigated for different density profiles, from two- and three-layer structure to the continuous one. Besides the first mode, examples of second- and third-mode simple waves are given.