Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program (GFD)

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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/11

The GFD Program began in 1959 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the aim of introducing a then relatively new topic in mathematical physics, geophysical fluid dynamics, to graduate students in physical sciences. It has been held each summer since and promotes an exchange of ideas among the many distinct fields that share a common interest in the nonlinear dynamics of rotating, stratified fluids. These fields include classical fluid dynamics, physical oceanography, meteorology, astrophysics, planetary atmospheres, geological fluid dynamics, hydromagnetics, and applied mathematics.

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Browsing Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program (GFD) by Subject "Convection"
  • Technical Report
    1981 summer study program in geophysical fluid dynamics : physics of convection
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1981-11) Malkus, Willem V. R. ; Mellor, Florence K.
    Reexploring convection and its various transitions to chaotic behavior were the central themes of GFD 1981. Our principal lecturer, Dr. Edward A. Spiegel, provided both a rich historical picture and stimulating hours at the current frontiers of this topic. Before the summer was out his research lecture on "A Tale of Two Methods" elegantly merged Pierre Coullet's canonical formalism for studying dynamical systems in a central manifold and the more traditional two-timing amplitude expansions near critical points. Other lecture sequences on convection and its relation to simpler dynamical systems ranged from the fine presentations of John Guckenheimer on bifurcation theory to Fritz Busse's survey of his immense contributions to our understanding of nonlinear convection. The list of other lectures found on the following pages attests to our summer-long exposure to convection in the ocean, the atmosphere, the earth's core and mantle, and in the sun. August brought lectures on new observations of convection in the laboratories of physicists. Albert Libchaber's precise experiments on the many routes convection can take to turbulence, with parallel laboratory and numerical experiments described by J. Gollub and E. Siggia, added much to our language of inquiry.
  • Technical Report
    1991 Summer Study Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics : patterns in fluid flow
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1991-09) Young, Bill ; Fauve, Stephan ; DeRemer, Barbara Ewing ; Meacham, Stephen P.
    The GFD program in 1991 focused on pattern forming processes in physics and geophysics. The pricipallecturer, Stephan Fauve, discussed a variety of systems, including our old favorite, Rayleigh-Bénard convection, but passing on to exotic examples such as vertically vibrated granular layers. Fauve's lectures emphasize a unified theoretical viewpoint based on symmetry arguments. Patterns produced by instabilties can be described by amplitude equations, whose form can be deduced by symmetry arguments, rather than the asymptotic expansions that have been the staple of past Summer GFD Programs. The amplitude equations are far simpler than the complete equations of motion, and symetry arguments are easier than asymptotic expansions. Symmetry arguments also explain why diverse systems are often described by the same amplitude equation. Even for granular layers, where there is not a universaly accepted continuum description, the appropnate amplitude equation can often be found using symmetry arguments and then compared with experiment. Our second speaker, Daniel Rothan, surveyed the state of the art in lattice gas computations. His lectures illustrate the great utility of these methods in simulating the flow of complex multiphase fluids, particularly at low Reynolds numbers. The lattice gas simulations reveal a complicated phenomenology much of which awaits analytic exploration. The fellowship lectures cover broad ground and reflect the interests of the staff members associated with the program. They range from the formation of sand dunes, though the theory of lattice gases, and on to two dimensional-turbulence and convection on planetary scales. Readers desiring to quote from these report should seek the permission of the authors (a partial list of electronic mail addresses is included on page v). As in previous years, these reports are extensively reworked for publication or appear as chapters in doctoral theses. The task of assembling the volume in 1991 was at first faciltated by our newly acquired computers, only to be complicated by hurricane Bob which severed electric power to Walsh Cottage in the final hectic days of the Summer.
  • Technical Report
    Rotating hydraulic control : 1997 summer study program in geophysical fluid dynamics
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1998-07) Whitehead, John A.
    Rotating Hydraulic Control was the topic of the thirty ninth year of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This theme was principally centered about those nonlinear problems in which either a free surface or internal stratification is so modified by flow that it acts to choke off increased flux as the forcing is increased. It is a peculiar form of convection, which shares many constraints with more general buoyancy driven motion but which has its own internal limits. Lectures and seminars were given by GFD staff and visitors, most of whom are founders of this young field of study. This volume contains notes from the talks given by the principal lecturers and written reports on the research projects cared out by the ten student fellows. The volume, therefore, summarizes a sizable percentage of the present understanding of the topic of Rotating Hydraulic Control.