Robust propagation of internal coastal Kelvin waves in complex domains

TL;DR

This study experimentally demonstrates that internal coastal Kelvin waves can robustly propagate along complex boundary geometries without scattering or attenuation, confirming theoretical dispersion relations in a controlled two-layer fluid system.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental verification of the robustness of internal coastal Kelvin waves in complex geometries, highlighting their potential for reliable boundary wave propagation.

Findings

Waves propagate in the prograde direction and are localized near boundaries.

Wave amplitude decays exponentially along the propagation path.

Obstacles do not cause additional attenuation of the waves.

Abstract

We experimentally investigate internal coastal Kelvin waves in a two-layer fluid system on a rotating table. Waves in our system propagate in the prograde direction and are exponentially localized near the boundary. Our experiments verify the theoretical dispersion relation of the wave and show that the wave amplitude decays exponentially along the propagation direction. We further demonstrate that the waves can robustly propagate along boundaries of complex geometries without being scattered and that adding obstacles to the wave propagation path does not cause additional attenuation.