Saturation of the Internal Tide over the Inner Continental Shelf. Part I: Observations

Abstract

Broadly distributed measurements of velocity, density, and turbulence spanning the inner shelf off central California indicate that (i) the average shoreward-directed internal tide energy flux ⟨FE⟩ decreases to near 0 at the 25-m isobath; (ii) the vertically integrated turbulence dissipation rate ⟨D⟩ is approximately equal to the flux divergence of internal tide energy ∂x⟨FE⟩; (iii) the ratio of turbulence energy dissipation in the interior relative to the bottom boundary layer (BBL) decreases toward shallow waters; (iv) going inshore, ⟨FE⟩ becomes decorrelated with the incoming internal wave energy flux; and (v) ⟨FE⟩ becomes increasingly correlated with stratification toward shallower water.