Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program

Princeton University

Course: AOS 572 Atmospheric and Oceanic Waves Spring 2001.

Lecturer: Isidoro Orlanski

I) Forced Waves:

1.) Introduction to Mountain Effects, Scale -analysis.

Ia. Local Scale

a.1 Anelastic System, gravity waves

a.2 Lee-Waves, Long solution, Non-linear Solutions.

Ib. Regional Scale

b.1 Quasi Geostrophic response

b.2 QG equations, Potential Vorticity

b.3 Steady solutions for a bounded fluid and semi-infinite Atmosphere.

Ic. Planetary Scale

c.1 Barotropic Response, Rossby waves.

c.3 The response on a channel flow in a beta-plane.

II) Unstable Waves:

IIa. Local Scale

a.1 Instability of a two-layer flow, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

a.2 Convective instability

IIb. Regional and Planetary Scales.

b.1 Barotropic Instability

b.2 Baroclinic Instability, Uniform PV The Eady Model.

b.3 Instability on a beta-plane, the Charney Model.

b.4 The life-cycle of a normal mode.

IIc. Fronts, Eddies and Storm Tracks.

c.1 Frontogenesis

c.2 Eddies in zonally asymmetric flows. Downstream development.

c.3 Meanders and oceanic rings.

c.4 life-cycle of baroclinic eddies in the Storm Tracks.