Forced Rossby waves in the presence of a nonlinear critical layer

The behavior of Rossby waves on a shear flow in the presence of a nonlinear critical layer is studied, with particular emphasis on the role played by the critical layer in a Rossby wave resonance mechanism. Previous steady analyses are extended to the resonant case and it is found that the forced wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ritchie, C. Harold (Charles Harold)
Format: Others
Language:en
Published: McGill University 1982
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Online Access:http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=68714
Description
Summary:The behavior of Rossby waves on a shear flow in the presence of a nonlinear critical layer is studied, with particular emphasis on the role played by the critical layer in a Rossby wave resonance mechanism. Previous steady analyses are extended to the resonant case and it is found that the forced wave dominates the solution, provided the flow configuration is not resonant for the higher harmonics induced by the critical layer. Numerical simulations for the forced initial value problem show that the solution evolves towards the analysed steady state when conditions are resonant for the forced wave, and demonstrate some of the complications that arise when they are resonant for higher harmonics.