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gfdl's home page > gfdl's bibliography > gareth p. williams > Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 25 (6), 1034-1045.
Thermal convection in a rotating fluid annulus: Part 3. Suppression of the frictional constraint on lateral boundaries
| Williams, G. P., 1968: Thermal convection in a rotating fluid annulus: Part 3. Suppression of the frictional constraint on lateral boundaries. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 25 (6), 1034-1045. |
| Abstract: In certain rotating fluid systems such as the atmosphere, the flow must maintain a zero net torque on the horizontal surface. The character of such flows is sought through numerical integration of the Navier-Stokes equations. The fluid occupies a torus shaped region whose vertical boundaries are assumed to be frictionless. The solutions relate to either a laboratory annulus with hypothetical free-slip sidewalls or to a zonal strip of the atmosphere or ocean. All the solutions are qualitatively similar despite parametric differences; their flows have a westerly-easterly zonal wind distribution near the horizontal boundary together with direct and indirect cells in a manner reminiscent of that proposed by classical theory for the general circulation of the atmosphere. |
| Under a strong external temperature differential the isotherms concentrate into a front. The meridional circulation assumes the form of gliding motion parallel to the fronttogether with frictionally driven secondary circulations. Certain mesoscale geophysical phenomena also possess these characteristics. |
| The solutions provide good examples of Eliassen's theory of vortex circulations. In certain rotating fluid systems such as the atmosphere, the flow must maintain a zero net torque on the horizontal surface. The character of such flows is sought through numerical integration of the Navier-Stokes equations. The fluid occupies a torus shaped region whose vertical boundaries are assumed to be frictionless. The solutions relate to either a laboratory annulus with hypothetical free-slip sidewalls or to a zonal strip of the atmosphere or ocean. All the solutions are qualitatively similar despite parametric differences; their flows have a westerly-easterly zonal wind distribution near the horizontal boundary together with direct and indirect cells in a manner reminiscent of that proposed by classical theory for the general circulation of the atmosphere. |
| Under a strong external temperature differential the isotherms concentrate into a front. The meridional circulation assumes the form of gliding motion parallel to the front together with frictionally driven secondary circulations. Certain mesoscale geophysical phenomena also possess these characteristics. |
| The solutions provide good examples of Eliassen's theory of vortex circulations. |