Internal solitary waves shoaling and breaking on uniform slopes

The shoaling and breaking of internal solitary waves of depression were studied experimentally. Various bottom slopes, fluid layer thickness ratios and density ratios were all investigated. It was found that breaking was induced by gravitational instabilities, following a strong reversal of the flow near the bottom. The ratio of the length of the solitary wave L(W) to the characteristic length of the slope L(S) determines the amount of energy reflected from the slope. For L(w)/L(S) < 0.5, the reflected wave was of the long linear type while for L(W)/L(S) greater than or equal to 0.5 the reflected wave was far more energetic, similar in appearance to the incident solitary wave.