Intensive Internal Waves Near the Pacific Coast of Kamchatka

K. V. Konyayev and K. D. Sabinin

Andreev Institute of Acoustic, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Shvernika 4, Moscow, 117036 Russia

Received December 26, 1995; in final form, November 20, 1996

Abstract—The direction of propagation and wave length of internal tides and the shape of short-period ther-
mocline oscillations are determined on the basis of the data of a hydrographic survey and measurements with
a distributed line temperature sensor in the area of the Pacific continental slope of Kamchatka. The analysis of
the data showed that the tidal wave of the first and second modes propagates shoreward over a narrow shelf and
later breaks without deformation. Over deep water, the wave propagates from the shore, transforms, and decays
into groups of solitonlike internal waves, which form visible contrast stripes at the ocean surface, and decay,
occasionally forming patches of temperature inversions in the thermocline. This process agrees with numerous
observations of striped structures at the ocean surface in this and other coastal regions of Kamchatka. Here,
unlike the majority of other regions, the striped structures are observed mainly over the deep waters.

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