View article

We conducted a field experiment on the Australian North West Shelf (NWS) to document mean and turbulent properties in the bottom boundary layer (BBL) at an internal wave generation site. We measured currents and temperature at 4 and 29 discrete depths, respectively, over the bottom 30 m at the 400 m depth contour. Our measurements showed non-linear motions in the BBL with characteristics similar to internal bores or boluses propagating onshore. At spring tide, the passage of these structures was associated with high levels of energy at the buoyancy and lower frequencies and strong localized mixing was observed in the BBL. During neap tide, the colder water associated with these features appeared to return back to site.