Please cite as:
Lenain, Luc; Pizzo, Nick (2021). Data from: Modulation of Surface Gravity Waves by Internal Waves. In Observations and Model Simulations from the Inner-Shelf Dynamics Experiment (ISDE). UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. https://doi.org/10.6075/J0513ZBJ


Corresponding author:
Luc Lenain
llenain@ucsd.edu

Primary associated publication:
Lenain, L., and Pizzo, N. (2021). Modulation of Surface Gravity Waves by Internal Waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography 51, 9, 2735-2748, available from: https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0302.1

Description of contents:
This collection contains the data sets needed to generate each figure presented in the publication "Lenain, L., and Pizzo, N. (2021). Modulation of Surface Gravity Waves by Internal Waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography 51, 9, 2735-2748, available from: https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0302.1. Internal waves are a regular feature of the open-ocean and coastal waters. As a train of internal waves propagates, their surface induced currents modulate the surface waves, generating a characteristic rough- and smooth-banded structure. While the surface expression of these internal waves is well known and has been observed from a variety of remote sensing instruments, direct quantitative observations of the directional properties of the surface gravity wave field modulated by an internal wave remain sparse. In this work, we report on a comprehensive field campaign conducted off the coast of Point Sal, California, in September 2017. Using a unique combination of airborne remote sensing observations, along with in situ surface and subsurface measurements, we investigate and quantify the interaction between surface gravity and internal wave processes. We find that surface waves are significantly modulated by the currents induced by the internal waves. Through novel observations of ocean topography, we characterize the rapid modification of the directional and spectral properties of surface waves over very short spatial scales [O(100) m or less]. Over a range of wavelengths (3–9-m waves), geometrical optics and wave action conservation predictions show good agreement with the observed wavenumber spectra in smooth and rough regions of the modulated surface waves. If a parameterization of wave action source terms is used, good agreement is found over a larger range of wavenumbers, down to 4 rad m−1. These results elucidate properties of surface waves interacting with a submesoscale ocean current and should provide insight into more general interactions between surface waves and the fine-scale structure of the upper ocean.

Description of files: 
- Matlab files of the processed data
- M-files to generate each publication figure.

File organization: 
Each manuscript figure has a dedicated folder containing the files listed above. In each folder, a readme file (.txt) is included to describe the variable used to generate the figures.