Nonlinear Waves Seminar: Rich Pawlowicz

Propagation and nonlinear oblique interactions in oceanic internal waves (and very shallow-water surface gravity waves)

Rich Pawlowicz

Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British Columbia

Date and time: 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 4:30pm

Location: 

ECOT 226

Abstract: 

When waves are large, their speed starts to depend on their amplitude.So what happens when large waves cross, and amplitudes add together? Motivated by some observations of oblique interactions between nonlinear ocean internal waves  over scales of kilometers, obtained  with aerial time-lapse photography, I then spent  many hours in the swash zone of a sandy beach looking at nonlinear interactions in  surface waves over scales of a few meters. By doing so I have developed a classification scheme for the different kinds of interactions that can occur, including non-steady Mach stem interactions.