On Interaction Time Scales of Oceanic Internal Waves

Abstract

When applied to oceanic internal waves of observed amplitudes, a class of weak wave-wave interaction theories predict certain very rapid interactions, contradicting the theoretical premise. It has been suggested that the apparent contradiction may be spurious. I attempt to clarify arguments which show that the contradiction is real, hence that weak interaction theories are largely inapplicable over much of the oceanic internal wave spectrum. However, important points of theoretical ambiguity remain.