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Effects of Friction and Buoyancy Diffusion on the Dynamics of Geostrophic Oceanic Currents with a Linear Vertical Velocity Profile
- Source :
- Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics. 56:591-602
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Pleiades Publishing Ltd, 2020.
-
Abstract
- A spectral problem of the Orr–Sommerfeld type is considered to describe unstable disturbances of oceanic geostrophic currents with a linear vertical velocity profile by taking into account the vertical diffusion of buoyancy and friction. Numerical solutions are obtained for different values of the dimensionless parameters of the problem. Calculations of the spectra of eigenvalues and growth rates are compared with those of a similar problem for an ideal fluid. It is shown that (a) dissipation expands the range of wave numbers of unstable disturbances, (b) dissipation can increase the growth rates of baroclinic disturbances, (c) disturbances driven by the instability of the critical layer can grow faster than baroclinic disturbances, and (d) currents with a width equal to or less than the Rossby radius can be unstable; nearly circular (axisymmetric) unstable disturbances (submesoscale eddies) can develop in narrow currents or frontal zones.
- Subjects :
- Physics
Atmospheric Science
Buoyancy
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Baroclinity
Mechanics
engineering.material
Oceanography
01 natural sciences
Instability
Physics::Fluid Dynamics
Geostrophic current
Eddy
0103 physical sciences
engineering
Wavenumber
Diffusion (business)
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Geostrophic wind
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1555628X and 00014338
- Volume :
- 56
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........018f0788d60e562b2eb5247f1d02385c