Near-inertial internal wave interactions with mesoscale fronts: Observations and models

Moored observations of near-inertial currents and buoyancy fluctuations from the Frontal Air Sea Interaction Experiment (FASINEX) may be understood as near-inertial internal waves reflecting off sheared background currents. The FASINEX moored array measured upper ocean currents, temperature, and conductivity between January and June 1986 in a region of the Sargasso Sea heavily populated by strong upper ocean fronts. The background jets associated with these features have typical cross-front scales of 20 km, maximum currents of 0.5 m s(-1), and relative vorticities of +0.3f. In the vicinity of fronts, observed near-inertial currents have short horizontal scales, show no clear horizontal phase structure, and trace out elongated current ellipses with elevated across-front over along-front variance. During these periods, inertial band-pass buoyancy fluctuations often correlate with major-axis currents. WKB ray-tracing models of propagating, monochromatic plane waves exhibit horizontal phase propagation and correlations between minor-axis currents and buoyancy and thus cannot explain these results. Models of near-inertial internal waves reflected or trapped by a barotropic frontal jet produce mode-like structures with short horizontal scales, little horizontal phase propagation, and anisotropic current ellipses aligned primarily cross front. Model buoyancy may correlate with one or both current ellipse components, depending on the incidence angle of the wave and the degree to which it reflects. Completely reflected waves with horizontal scales similar to those of the front and near-normal incidence angle produce current ellipses and correlation patterns consistent with the observations.