Asymmetry of the Internal Seiche in Loch Ness

Abstract

LOCH NESS seems to be particularly suitable for internal wave research. Because it is freshwater the effects of salinity, which are so difficult to monitor in the ocean, are absent. The wind has a strongly preferred direction up and down the length of the steep-sided Loch, which is of a fairly regular shape (Fig. 1) and great depth, and which supports a well developed thermocline and rich microstructure¹ in the late summer. Long range effects and mean drifts (other than those associated with the rivers and streams which enter or leave the Loch) which occur in the ocean are absent, and so the Loch provides an excellent open air laboratory for testing theories of internal wave generation, propagation and decay.