2026/03/23 by Mariona Claret, Eric Kunze, Amit Tandon +1 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing #Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
paper · doi:10.1175/jpo-d-25-0181.1
openalex publication_date 2026/03/23 · openalex created_date 2026/03/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Abstract Wind-generated inertial motions are refracted by geostrophic vorticity gradients to propagate into the stratified ocean interior as near-inertial waves that can be trapped in anticyclonic regions of ocean fronts and eddies as subinertial waves. Here, we explore a nonlinear wave–wave interaction mechanism by which subinertial near-inertial waves trapped in a sharp front (vorticity Rossby number Ro ∼ −0.85, front gradient Froude number Fr ∼ 0.8) can escape as superinertial near-inertial waves. Inferences are drawn from spectral and cross-bispectral analyses of numerical solutions of a process study ocean model configured to represent a two-dimensional baroclinic front. The model is forced with a wind impulse. The resulting near-inertial wave fields are analyzed over the ensuing five inertial periods as the waves radiate downward. Resonant wave–wave interactions provide a pathway for trapped subinertial wave energy to radiate out of the front as free superinertial waves. Nonlinear interactions represent a significant component of the near-inertial wave energy budget, only a factor-of-2 smaller than dissipation. Escaping waves only occur for either large front vorticity Rossby number or large front gradient Froude number in the regime constrained by 0 < 1 + Ro − Fr 2 < 0.36.