Modelling Internal Wave Focussing and its Role in the Ocean's Circulation

Internal gravity waves are interior ocean waves driven by gravity acting on layers with varying density in the ocean. They are held responsible for a large fraction of the ocean’s energy and form a mechanism to transport energy input on the large scale towards the small dissipative scales. One such mechanism is geometric focussing of internal waves into so-called wave attractors. While there are a lot of theoretical results on 2D and 3D internal wave attractors, there have been fewer studies on the way these theoretical concepts can be applied to the real ocean. It is hypothesized that such wave attractors are important in the overall energy budget of the ocean circulation and, hence, in ocean circulation models such as used in climate predictions. The goal of the PhD project is to investigate the role of internal gravity wave attractors and focussing in the ocean. The project can develop in different ways: there is scope for more theoretical-numerical investigations, or more applied oceanographic work, or a combination thereof. This is also reflected in the supervisory team: Prof. Leo Maas (Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research), Prof. Sybren Drijfhout (National Oceanography centre, Southampton), Onno Bokhove and Mark Walkley (Leeds).