This course covers internal gravity waves; rotation effects in stratified oceans; instabilities and energy conversion; fronts and eddies; mid-latitude ocean circulation; coastal dynamics. Prerequisites: SMS 541 or equivalent, SMS 591. Cr. 3.

Outline:

• Adjustment under gravity (Dr. Pettigrew)

  internal gravity waves; WKB approximation; internal waves in a rotating fluid; polarization relation

   

• Linear baroclinic waves (Dr. Xue)

  stratified geostrophic dynamics and thermal wind; circulation in stratified fluid; Ertel's potential vorticity; quasigeostrophic potential vorticity equation; Rossby waves in stratified fluid; Rossby wave normal modes; topographic waves in a stratified ocean; wave-flow interaction; basic mechanism of baroclinic instability; Eady's problem; Charney's problem and critical layer; instabilities of currents with horizontal and vertical shear

   

• Fronts and eddies (Dr. Xue)

  scales and semigeostrophic dynamics; meanders and eddies

   

• Geostrophic approximation (Dr. Xue)

  Sverdrup relation (e<<L/r0 < 1); the thermocline problem; thermocline ventilation; flow in unventilated layers: potential vorticity homogenization

   

• Effects of side boundaries (Dr. Pettigrew)

  Seiches and tides in channels and gulfs; adjustment to equilibrium in a channel; storm surges; coastal upwelling; continental shelf waves

   

   

Text:

Cushman-Roisin: Introduction to Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Prentice Hall

Gill: Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics, Academic Press