The effect of horizontal shear flow on geostrophic adjustment in a barotropic fluid

William Blumen; Warren M. Washington

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v21i2.10070

The effect of horizontal shear flow on geostrophic adjustment in a barotropic fluid

Tellus

Volume 21 (1969): Issue 2

By: William Blumen and Warren M. Washington

Open Access

|Jan 1969

Abstract

The effect of a basic horizontal shear flow on the linear geostrophic adjustment process in an unbounded barotropic fluid is investigated. It is shown that the basic flow is absolutely stable to axially symmetric transverse disturbances and that energy is not abstracted from the basic flow through the action of Reynolds stresses. A potential vorticity equation is derived and solved numerically in order to determine the relative amount of initial energy which is partitioned to geostrophic kinetic and available potential energy, as a function of the initial current width. It is also shown that, in contradistinction to the adjustment process in an atmosphere with a basic state at rest, a significant portion of geostrophic energy resides in the low wave-number part of the energy spectrum. This latter feature is most noticeable when a large gradient of the basic flow exists.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v21i2.10070 | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

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Language: English

Page range: 167 - 176

Submitted on: Mar 13, 1968

Published on: Jan 1, 1969

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1969 William Blumen, Warren M. Washington, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 21 (1969): Issue 2