During the spring tides of early January and February 1993, groups of
solitary internal waves were observed propagating through the Intensiv
e Flux Array of the TOGA COARE experiment. The waves appear to origina
te near the islands of Nugarba (3 degrees S 30'S - 154 degrees 30'E).
They travel north-eastward at 2.5-3 m/s, closely coupled with the semi
-diurnal baroclinic tide. Peak amplitudes exceed 60 m. Velocities are
in excess of .8 m/s. Sea-surface vertical displacements of order .3 m
can be inferred directly from the lateral acceleration of surface wate
rs. The Equatorial Undercurrent is displaced by soliton passage but ap
parently is unaffected otherwise. The intrinsic shear of the solitary
crests is small compared to ambient equatorial shears. The crests, whi
le not themselves unstable, are effective at triggering instabilities
on the background flow. The motions potentially contribute 10-15 Watts
/m(2) to the flux of heat into the mixed layer.