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Baroclinic instability in an eccentricannulus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2006

P. R. Gent and
H. Leach
P. R. Gent
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton, EnglandPresent address: N.C.A.R. Boulder, Colorado 80303.
H. Leach
Affiliation:
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Meteorological Office, Bracknell, Berkshire, EnglandPresent address: Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton.
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Abstract

A study has been made of baroclinic instability in a differentiallyheated, rotating fluid annulus whose channel width variesazimuthally. Both laboratory experiments and an a.nalytica1 modelemploying a linear normal-mode analysis have been used. Theexperiments show three types of flow. For slow rotation the flow is'symmetric’, whereas at high rotation speeds baroclinic waves occurat all azimuths. At intermediate rotation speeds it is possible tohave a mixed flow which is ‘symmetric’ in the narrow part but hasbaroclinic waves in the wide part of the annulus. This resultsuggested the analytical investigation of the stability of abarocIinic flow whose meridional scale varies downstream. It wasfound that this model also permits three possible types of flow:everywhere stable, everywhere unstable, and also a mixed flow whichis locally unstable where the meridional scale is largest butlocally stable where the scale is smallest.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 77 , Issue 4 , 22 October 1976, pp. 769 - 788
Copyright
© 1976 Cambridge University Press

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