A theory of the mean flow driven by long internal waves in a rotating basin, with application to Lake Kinneret.

Abstract

The rectified flow induced by wind-driven internal seiches in a rotating lake is studied. Friction and nonlinearity combine to generate a secondary mean flow which is calcualted analytically for the case of a uniform depth lake and numerically for variable depth. The theory is applied to Lake Kinneret. the former Sea of Galilee, where the diurnal wind forcing produces a large internal Kelvin wave and which has a strong cyclonic mean flow. The uniform depth model reproduces the diurnal response adequately, but variable depth is required to reproduce the mean flow. (A)