LINEAR INTERNAL WAVES THAT FOLLOWS NONLINEAR INTERNAL WAVES

Nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) are usually generated by nonlinear process on linear internal waves (IW). Near HengChun Ridge that links Taiwan and Luzon Islands, we found that there are linear internal waves following NLIW and they travel westward at different speed, about 1.5 m/s for IW and 2.9 m/s for NLIW. This phenomenon was observed on site with ship radar and echo sounders, and later verified with thermistor chain. West of Luzon Strait, the separation of NLIW are 5 km or more, while linear internal waves are lines of wave crests at nearly equal distance that is only a few hundred meters apart. The current hypothesis is that most of the energy of internal tide forms a beam that propagates upward from the eastern shoulder of ocean ridge and later interacts with sea surface and thermocline. The interaction with thermocline generates linear internal wave that propagate along the pycnocline at about 1.5 m/s. The interaction with sea surface scatters internal wave energy downward, ensonifies the water column and generates large nonlinear waves that propagate westward at 2.9 m/s as mode 1 in a waveguide.