A new mechanism for the generation of quasi-zonal jets in the ocean
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5224As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051861DOI
10.1029/2012GL051861Keyword
Rossby waves; Barotropic instability; Eastern boundary currents; Radiating instabilities; Zonal jets; Zonal striationsAbstract
A simple barotropic quasi-geostrophic model is used to demonstrate that instabilities radiated from an unstable eastern boundary current can generate zonal striations in the ocean interior with realistic wavelengths and amplitudes. Nonlinear transfer of energy from the more unstable trapped modes is important for radiating modes to overcome friction. The dynamics shown here are generic enough to point to the eastern boundary current as a likely source of the observed striations extending from oceanic eastern boundaries.
Description
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 39 (2012): L10601, doi:10.1029/2012GL051861.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Geophysical Research Letters 39 (2012): L10601Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Hydraulics and instabilities of quasi-geostrophic zonal flows
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1994-09)The thesis addresses the applicability of traditional hydraulic theory to an unstable, mid-latitude jet where the only wave present is the Rossby wave modified by shear. While others (Armi 1989, Pratt 1989, Haynes et ... -
Instability of an idealized tidal mixing front : symmetric instabilities and frictional effects
(Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2013-11-01)Finite amplitude instability of an idealized tidal mixing front is considered for cases where there is an active symmetric instability during the early stages of evolution. This can happen either when the initial front is ... -
A model of multiple zonal jets in the oceans : dynamical and kinematical analysis
(American Meteorological Society, 2009-11)Multiple alternating zonal jets observed in the ocean are studied with an idealized quasigeostrophic zonal-channel model, with the supercritical, zonal background flow imposed. Both eastward and westward background flows ...
