Long-wave instabilities of sloping stratified exchange flows

We investigate the linear instability of two-layer stratified shear flows in a sloping two-dimensional channel, subject to non-zero longitudinal gravitational forces. We reveal three previously unknown instabilities, distinct from the well-known Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and Holmboe wave instability, in that they have longer wavelengths (of the order of 10 to 10³ shear-layer depths) and often slower growth rates. Importantly, they can grow in background flows with gradient Richardson number 1, which offers a new mechanism to sustain turbulence and mixing in strongly stratified flows. These instabilities are shown to be generic and relatively insensitive to Reynolds number, Prandtl number, base flow profile and boundary conditions. The nonlinear evolution of these instabilities is investigated through a forced direct numerical simulation, in which the background momentum and density are sustained. The growth of long unstable waves in background flows initially stable to short wave causes a decrease in the local gradient Richardson number. This leads to local nonlinear processes that result in small-scale overturns resembling Kelvin–Helmholtz billows. Our results establish a new energy exchange pathway, where the mean kinetic energy of a strongly stratified flow is extracted by primary unstable long waves and secondary short waves, and subsequently dissipated into internal energy.