Physics – Fluid Dynamics
Scientific paper
Mar 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004gapfd..98..175h&link_type=abstract
Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, vol. 98, Issue 3, p.175-202
Physics
Fluid Dynamics
1
Scientific paper
A theory is developed that describes the effects of topography and potential vorticity (PV) forcing on the dynamics of solitary Rossby waves (SRWs) in zonally varying background flow. The cornerstone of the theory is the background flow, which is systematically derived rather than simply being specified as in previous theories. The evolution of the disturbance field is governed by a forced, variable coefficient Korteweg-deVries equation, which possesses SRW, low-frequency wave packet, and multiple equilibrium solutions. The topography and PV forcing structures affect the evolution of the disturbance in fundamentally different ways. For example, if the topography is meridionally symmetric, it does not affect the translation speed of a meridionally antisymmetric disturbance. If the PV forcing is sufficiently weak or meridionally symmetric, it does not affect the local growth/decay of the disturbance. Conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy are derived. For locally parallel background flow, the mass and momentum equations show that the background meridional wind and local topographic slope enter as source/sink terms. In the mass equation these terms can be combined and written solely in terms of the PV forcing. Additionally, weak or meridionally symmetric PV forcing allows the evolution equation to be written in terms of a Hamiltonian, which conserves both mass and energy. Numerical solutions of the amplitude equation reveal a richness of behaviors not found in previous studies of SRWs. These behaviors include transmission, reflection, and trapping, which may combine to produce regional confinement and local spawning of new disturbances. The regional confinement and spawning behavior only occurs when the zonally varying background flow and topography are considered in combination and displaced with respect to each other, a configuration reminiscent of observed flows in the atmosphere.
Hodyss Daniel
Nathan Terrence R.
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