Internal waves in the ocean: A review

This review documents the advances in our knowledge of the oceanic internal wave field during the past quadrennium. Emphasis is placed on studies that deal most directly with the measurement and modeling of internal waves as they exist in the ocean. Progress has come by realizing that specific physical processes might behave differently when embedded in the complex, omnipresent sea of internal waves. To understand fully the dynamics of the internal wave field requires knowledge of the simultaneous interactions of the internal waves with other oceanic phenomena as well as with themselves.