Articles | Volume 29, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-279-2022
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-279-2022
Research article
 | 
08 Jul 2022
Research article |  | 08 Jul 2022

Observations of shoaling internal wave transformation over a gentle slope in the South China Sea

Steven R. Ramp, Yiing Jang Yang, Ching-Sang Chiu, D. Benjamin Reeder, and Frederick L. Bahr

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Subject: Bifurcation, dynamical systems, chaos, phase transition, nonlinear waves, pattern formation | Topic: Climate, atmosphere, ocean, hydrology, cryosphere, biosphere | Techniques: Big data and artificial intelligence
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Cited articles

Alford, M. H., Lien, R.-C., Simmons, H., Klymak, J., Ramp, S. R., Yang, Y.-J., Tang, T.-Y., Farmer, D., and Chang, M.-H.: Speed and evolution of nonlinear internal waves transiting the South China Sea, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 40, 1338–1355, 2010. 
Alford, M. H., Peacock, T., MacKinnon, J. A. et al.​​​​​​​: The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea, Nature, 521, 65–69, 2015. 
Bahr, F., Ramp, S., Yang, Y. J.: Observations of shoaling internal wave transformation over a gentle slope in the South China Sea, V1, Mendeley Data [data set], https://doi.org/10.17632/6wwv4m4r97.1, 2022. 
Buijsman, M. C., Kanarska, Y., and McWilliams, J. C.: On the generation and evolution of nonlinear internal waves in the South China Sea, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 115, C02012, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005275, 2010a. 
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Short summary
Earlier work in the vicinity of the shelf and slope in the northeastern South China Sea serendipitously revealed the presence of large, stunning bed forms (sand dunes) whose height (>15 m) and length (>350 m) are quite unique and unusual. We hypothesize that the dunes formed due to shoaling very large-amplitude nonlinear internal waves that scour the bottom and resuspend and redistribute the sediments. As a first step, the wave characteristics are observed and described in detail.
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