Observations on the robustness of internal wave attractors to perturbations

Previously, internal wave attractors have been studied in the laboratory in idealized situations. Here, we present a series of experiments in which these conditions are modified. Modifications are made by varying the forcing frequency, by using a nonuniform stratification, by introducing finite amplitude perturbations to the trapezoidal domain, and by using a parabolic domain. All these new experiments reveal the persistence of internal wave attractors that remain reasonably well predictable by means of ray tracing. We conclude that the occurrence of wave attractors is likely to be more general than has previously been thought. The fundamental response of the confined, continuously stratified fluids studied in this paper to a sustained forcing has to be described in terms of internal wave attractors.