Internal Tide

Internal tides are internal waves generated at tidal frequencies when barotropic tidal currents flow over ridges, shelf breaks, and seamounts, radiating baroclinic energy into the stratified interior. They carry roughly 1 terawatt of the tidal energy that is otherwise dissipated by bottom friction, and their breaking drives much of the deep-ocean mixing that sustains the abyssal overturning. They are a major source of error in altimetric sea-surface-height analysis.