Observations of Internal Tides in the Southern Ocean

Abstract

This chapter describes the measurements of internal tides in the Southern Ocean. The generation of internal tides is associated with the interaction of the currents of the barotropic tide with the slopes of the bottom topography. One of the most important ideas presented here is the strong generation of internal tides over submarine ridges. There are not so many field measurements in the Southern Ocean as in the other oceans. Only the Drake Passage is well covered with measurements. No strong generators of internal tides exist here. Measurements of internal tides on mooring clusters confirm the well known fact that internal tides are generated over the bottom slopes. Some of the regions of field measurements are located south of the critical latitude (74° 30′S) so that semidiurnal internal tides rapidly decay with the distance from the bottom slopes.