Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program Princeton University

Course: AOS 572 Atmospheric and Oceanic Waves Spring 2005.

Lecturer: Isidoro Orlanski

I) Forced Waves:

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

Ia. Regional Scale

a.1 Quasi Geostrophic response

a.2 QG equations, Potential Vorticity

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

Ib. Planetary Scale

b.1 Barotropic Response, Rossby waves.

b.2 The response on a channel flow in a beta-plane.

b.3 Numerical simulations.

II) Unstable Waves:

IIa. Regional and Planetary Scales.

a.1 Barotropic Instability, necessary condition for instability, interacting two edge waves.

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

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

a.4 The life-cycle of a normal mode. Eddy energy cycle

IIb. Eddies and Storm Tracks.

b.1 Eddies in zonally asymmetric flows. Downstream development, Energy fluxes and group velocity.

b.2 Fronts and Frontogenesis

b.3 Wave-breaking, anticycloninc and cyclonic breaking, effect into the larger-scale flow (feedback into the quasi stationary circulation).

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

b.5 Meanders of ocean currents, mesoscale eddies.