internal bores subsequently push inshore. Many taxa can be almost absent in warm surface waters, yet plentiful in these internal bores. Surface slicks While internal waves of higher magnitudes will often break after crossing over the shelf break, smaller trains will proceed across the shelf unbroken. At low wind speeds these internal waves are evidenced by the formation of wide surface slicks, oriented parallel to the bottom topography, which progress shoreward with the internal waves. Waters above an internal wave converge and sink in its trough and upwell and diverge over its crest. The convergence zones associated with internal wave troughs often accumulate oils and flotsam that occasionally progress shoreward with the slicks. These rafts of flotsam can also harbor high concentrations of larvae of invertebrates and fish an order of magnitude higher than the surrounding waters. Predictable downwellings Thermoclines are often associated with chlorophyll maximum layers. Internal waves represent oscillations of these thermoclines and therefore have the potential to transfer these phytoplankton rich waters downward, coupling benthic and pelagic systems. Areas affected by these events show higher growth rates of suspension feeding ascidians and bryozoans, likely due to the periodic influx of high phytoplankton concentrations. Periodic depression of the thermocline and associated downwelling may also play an important role in the vertical transport of planktonic larvae. Trapped cores Large steep internal waves containing trapped, reverse-oscillating cores can also transport parcels of water shoreward. These non-linear waves with trapped cores had previously been observed in the laboratory and predicted theoretically. These waves propagate in environments characterized by high shear and turbulence and likely derive their energy from waves of depression interacting with a shoaling bottom further upstream. The conditions favorable to the generation of these waves are also likely to suspend sediment along the bottom as well as plankton and nutrients found along the benthos in deeper water. References Footnotes Other External links Discussion and videos of internal waves made by an oscillating cylinder. Atlas of Oceanic Internal Waves - Global Ocean Associates Atmospheric dynamics Fluid dynamics Waves Water waves