Internal Waves and Bedforms

Abstract

The physics of internal waves in the density-stratified deep sea is reviewed with the aim of understanding the waves’ potential effects on undular bedforms, ‘sediment waves’, at the seafloor. Such bedforms occur mainly on continental slopes. Sloping topography is also a prerequisite for internal wave breaking, which is the dominant process for sediment resuspension in the deep sea. Internal and sediment waves have common horizontal length scales. They differ in vertical length scale and, foremost, in propagation velocity and age.