Differences in temperature and salinity create distinct layers within the ocean. When combined with flow over submerged topography — underwater canyons, mountains, and reefs — it makes waves. But those Keep reading
Tag: internal waves
Crisscrossing Wave Clouds
Crisscrossing lines of wave clouds mark the wake of the Sandwich Islands in this satellite image. The tallest islands in the chain thrust rocky peaks more than 1000 meters above Keep reading
Striped Clouds
Living near the Rocky Mountains, it’s not unusual to look up and find the sky striped with lines of clouds. Such wave clouds are often formed on the lee side of Keep reading
Waves Below the Surface
Even a seemingly calm ocean can have a lot going on beneath the surface. Many layers of water at different temperatures and salinities make up the ocean. Both of those Keep reading
Wave Clouds
Stripe-like wave clouds can often form downstream of mountains. This satellite image shows such clouds in the South Pacific where rocky mountains jut 600 meters (2,000 ft) above the sea. Keep reading
Wave Clouds
In this video, Sixty Symbols tackles the physics of wave clouds. When air flows over an obstacle like a mountain, the air can begin to oscillate downstream, forming what is Keep reading
Dead Water
Sailors have long known about the “dead water” phenomenon, which can bring ships to a near-standstill, but it was only within the last century that an explanation for the behavior Keep reading
Wave Clouds
Coming home from APS DFD, I looked out the window as we flew east over the last of the Rockies and caught these wave clouds. Air flowing west to east Keep reading
Inside the Strait of Gibraltar
When a fluid is stratified into layers, it’s possible to have waves generated and transmitted along the interface between layers. Because these waves remain inside the bulk fluid, they are Keep reading
Internal Wave Demo
This video has a fun and simple demonstration of the importance of fluid density in buoyancy and stratification. Fresh water (red) and salt water (blue) are released together into a small Keep reading