Interactions of Remotely Generated Internal Tides With the U.S. West Coast Continental Margin

Through interactions with the continental margins, incident low-mode internal tides (ITs) can be reflected, scattered to high modes, transmitted onto the shelf and dissipated. We investigate the fate of remotely generated mode-1 ITs in the U.S. West Coast (USWC) continental margin using two 4-km horizontal resolution regional simulations. These 1-year long simulations have realistic stratification, and atmospheric, tidal, and sub-tidal forcings. In addition, one of these simulations has remote internal wave (IW) forcing at the open boundaries while the other does not. To compute the IT reflectivity of the USWC margin, we separate the IT energy fluxes into onshore and offshore propagating components using a Discrete Fourier Transform in space and time. Overall, ∼20% of the remote mode-1 semidiurnal IT energy fluxes reflect off the USWC margin, 40% is scattered to modes 2–5, and 7% is transmitted onto the shelf while the remaining is dissipated on the continental slope. Furthermore, our results reveal that differences in stratification, slope criticality, topographic roughness and angle of incidence cause these fractions to vary spatially and temporally along the USWC margin. However, there is no clear seasonal variability in these estimates. Remote IWs enhance the advection and diffusion of heat in the continental margin, resulting in cooling at the surface and warming at depth, and a reduction in the thermocline stratification. These results suggest that low-mode ITs can cause water mass transformation in continental margins that are far away from their generation sites.