Victoria Whitley

Victoria Whitley

Applied Math and Scientific Computing PhD Candidate

Papers

Internal Wave-Topography and Flow Interactions in the Bottom Boundary Layer

Published in Proquest/ UMD DRUM, 2026

These results demonstrate that interactions among topography, mean flow, internal waves, and submesoscale instabilities play a fundamental role in BBL dynamics, tracer transport, and energy redistribution in dense overflow regions and the deep ocean. By characterizing the restratification and mixing by internal wave breaking, persistent SI-driven off-shelf export, and dense overflow-modified near-inertial wave trapping and reflection, this work provides a framework for interpreting boundary-driven exchange and mixing.

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Breaking Internal Waves on Sloping Topography: Connecting Parcel Displacements to Overturn Size, Interior-Boundary Exchanges, and Mixing

Published in Journal of Phsyical Oceanography, 2025

Using LES, this work looks at the internal tide breaking process on sloping bottom topography, finding a strong dependence on the length scale we term the ‘effective wave height’ from the initial overtuns to the ejection of near-boundary fluid into the interior. There is also a discussion of the subsequent water-mass transformation and mixing in the BBL using both a volume budget and buoyancy fluxes.

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Multi-Component Diffusion Study and Stability Analysis

Published in UNC Libraries, 2019

This is the 2019 Honors Thesis submitted through the University of North Carolina. The effect of multi-component diffusive convection in a fluid layer is studied, through both an experimental component and a neutral stability analysis.

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