The Surface Signatures of Internal Waves in the Ocean: Some Particular Cases

Abstract

We present briefly an overview of work concerned with the inclusion of wave refraction effects in computing the radar surface roughness signatures of internal waves. This requires a discussion of wave kinematics in the straining region. It is suggested that important progress can be made in understanding the physics of the straining process by employing a system based on the use of ‘sectors’ and of representations in the Ω_v w and k_yx planes. It is shown that in the special case of low winds so that the associated time-scales are relatively long, the refraction effects are especially important and can lead to the presence of fine structure in the theoretically modelled signatures. Some consequences such as the occurrence of wave trapping are described and the implications for experiments are outlined.