Error calculation of large-amplitude internal solitary waves within the pycnocline introduced by the strong stratification approximation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Error calculation of large-amplitude internal solitary waves within the pycnocline introduced by the strong stratification approximation

AU - Cunguo, Xu

AU - Wang, Zhan

AU - Hayatdavoodi, Masoud

N1 - Funding Information: The second author’s (Z.W) work is supported by the Leading Talent Team Project of Extreme Marine Environmental Fluctuation Field Frontier Science Center of Ministry of Education, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12202114), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M710932), the State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology (No. LP2202), the Qingdao Postdoctoral Application Project and the Heilongjiang Touyan Innovation Team Program.

PY - 2023/4/15

Y1 - 2023/4/15

N2 - At present, studies on large-amplitude internal solitary waves mostly adopt strong stratification models, such as the two-and three-layer Miyata—Choi—Camassa (MCC) internal wave models, which omit the pycnocline or treat it as another fluid layer with a constant density. Because the pycnocline exists in real oceans and cannot be omitted sometimes, the computational error of a large-amplitude internal solitary wave within the pycnocline introduced by the strong stratification approximation is unclear. In this study, the two- and three-layer MCC internal wave models are used to calculate the wave profile and wave speed of large-amplitude internal solitary waves. By comparing these results with the results provided by the Dubreil—Jacotin—Long (DJL) equation, which accurately describes large-amplitude internal solitary waves in a continuous density stratification, the computational errors of large-amplitude internal solitary waves at different pycnocline depths introduced by the strong stratification approximation are assessed. Although the pycnocline thicknesses are relatively large (accounting for 8%–10% of the total water depth), the error is much smaller under the three-layer approximation than under the two-layer approximation.

AB - At present, studies on large-amplitude internal solitary waves mostly adopt strong stratification models, such as the two-and three-layer Miyata—Choi—Camassa (MCC) internal wave models, which omit the pycnocline or treat it as another fluid layer with a constant density. Because the pycnocline exists in real oceans and cannot be omitted sometimes, the computational error of a large-amplitude internal solitary wave within the pycnocline introduced by the strong stratification approximation is unclear. In this study, the two- and three-layer MCC internal wave models are used to calculate the wave profile and wave speed of large-amplitude internal solitary waves. By comparing these results with the results provided by the Dubreil—Jacotin—Long (DJL) equation, which accurately describes large-amplitude internal solitary waves in a continuous density stratification, the computational errors of large-amplitude internal solitary waves at different pycnocline depths introduced by the strong stratification approximation are assessed. Although the pycnocline thicknesses are relatively large (accounting for 8%–10% of the total water depth), the error is much smaller under the three-layer approximation than under the two-layer approximation.

KW - DJL equation

KW - Internal solitary wave

KW - MCC internal wave model

KW - Pycnocline

KW - Three-layer approximation

KW - Two-layer approximation

KW - Wave profile

KW - Wave speed

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85153293941

U2 - 10.1007/s11804-023-00312-2

DO - 10.1007/s11804-023-00312-2

M3 - Article

SN - 1671-9433

VL - 22

SP - 146

EP - 152

JO - Journal of Marine Science and Application

JF - Journal of Marine Science and Application

ER -