Internal Solitary Waves in the White Sea: Hot-Spots, Structure, and Kinematics from Multi-Sensor Observations

A major hot-spot for internal solitary waves (ISWs) has been identified in the southwestern Gorlo Strait of the White Sea, characterized by strong tides and complex topography. These ISWs exhibit pronounced high-frequency isopycnal depressions of 5–8 meters during flood and slackening phases, with similar activity observed near Solovetsky Islands and Onega Bay. The study, leveraging historical synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and field measurements, reveals that wave trains are larger and propagate faster in deeper regions. Theoretical propagation speeds derived from a two-layer model overestimate actual speeds by 2–3 times due to unaccounted background currents. Enhanced diapycnic diffusion was also observed near frontal zones, where the tallest ISWs (14–17 meters) were regularly recorded.

Kozlov, I. E., Atadzhanova, O. A., & Zimin, A. V. (2022). Internal Solitary Waves in the White Sea: Hot-Spots, Structure, and Kinematics from Multi-Sensor Observations. Remote Sensing, 14(19), 4948. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14194948