Measurement and interpretation of surface roughness changes induced by internal waves during the Joint Canada‐U.S. Ocean Wave Investigation Project

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Abstract
During the Joint Canada‐U.S. Ocean Wave Investigation Project (JOWIP), video and laser slope meter observations of surface waves perturbed by solitonlike internal waves were obtained from the Canadian research ship Endeavour. Two instances were observed of resonant interaction between wind waves that had been turned through a large angle, and the advancing internal wave current. When the wind makes a relatively small angle with the internal wave crest, the effect of the internal wave current is to split the (unperturbed) wind wave spectrum into a resonant system propagating with the interval wave, and a weaker wave system propagating against it. This phenomenon was clearly observed in the measurements and qualitatively confirmed by theoretical calculations.