A Comparison Between Internal Waves Observed in the Southern Ocean and Lee Wave Generation Theory

Direct observations in the Southern Ocean report enhanced internal wave activity and turbulence in a few kilometers above rough bottom topography. The enhancement is co-located with the deep-reaching fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, suggesting that the internal waves and turbulence are sustained by near-bottom flows interacting with rough topography. Recent numerical simulations confirm that oceanic flows impinging on rough small-scale topography are very effective generators of internal gravity waves and predict vigorous wave radiation, breaking, and turbulence within a kilometer above bottom. However, a linear lee wave generation theory applied to the observed bottom topography and mean flow characteristics has been shown to overestimate the observed rates of the turbulent energy dissipation. In this study, we compare the linear lee wave theory with the internal wave kinetic energy estimated from finestructure data collected as part of the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES). We show that the observed internal wave kinetic energy levels are generally in agreement with the theory. Consistent with the lee wave theory, the observed internal wave kinetic energy scales quadratically with the mean flow speed, stratification, and topographic roughness. The correlation coefficient between the observed internal wave kinetic energy and mean flow and topography parameters reaches 0.6-0.8 for the 100-800 m vertical wavelengths, consistent with the dominant lee wave wavelengths, and drops to 0.2-0.5 for wavelengths outside this range. A better agreement between the lee wave theory and the observed internal wave kinetic energy than the observed turbulent energy dissipation suggests remote breaking of internal waves.