Coriolis frequency

Abstract: An approximate dispersion relation for near-inertial internal waves propagating in geostrophic shear is formulated that includes straining by the mean flow shear. Near-inertial and geostrophic motions have similar horizontal scales in the ocean. This implies that interaction terms involving mean flow shear of the form (v·Δ)V as well as the mean flow itself [(V·Δ)v] must be retained in the equations of motion. The vorticity ζ shifts the lower bound of the internal waveband from the planetary value of the Coriolis frequency f to an effective Coriolis frequency feπ = f + ζ/2. A ray tracing approach is adopted to examine the propagation behavior of near-inertial waves in a model geostrophic jet. Trapping and amplification occur in regions of negative vorticity where near-inertial waves' intrinsic frequency &omega0 can be less than the effective Coriolis frequency of the surrounding ocean. Intense downward-propagating near-inertial waves have been observed at the base of upper ocean negative vorticity...

Abstract: We report direct, quantitative measurements of mixing associated with three cycles of a single, energetic, downward-propagating near-inertial wave in the Banda Sea at 6.5°S, 128°E during October 1998. The wave dominates the shear, containing 70% of the total variance. Simultaneous depth/time series of shear, strain, Froude number (Fr), and microstructure allow direct computation of their coherence and phase from 50–120 m, for 14 days. In this depth range, 72% of diapycnal diffusivity (68% of dissipation) occurs in three distinct pulses, spaced at the inertial period of 4.4 days. These are collocated with maxima of transverse shear, strain and Fr. Inertial-band log diapycnal diffusivity, log10 Kρ, is coherent at the 95% confidence level with both components of shear and Froude number. In this data set, strain is more important than shear in modulating Fr. Owing to the low latitude, the inertial frequency (fo = 1/4.4 cycles per day) is much smaller than the diurnal and tidal frequencies. Consequently, near-inertial motions may be studied separately from tides and other motions via time-domain filtering. Semiempirical WKB plane-wave solutions with observed frequency ωo = 1.02fo and vertical scale 100 m explain 66% and 42% of inertial-band shear and strain variance, respectively. On the basis of the observed phase relationship between shear and strain, the wave is propagating equatorward, toward 295° true. Ratios of shear to strain and of parallel to transverse shear suggest that the wave's intrinsic frequency ωI ≈ 1.18feff. This indicates that background vorticity ζ has lowered the effective Coriolis frequency, feff = fo + ζ/2, relative to its planetary value, fo [Kunze, 1985]. Ray tracing suggests that the wave was generated near 6.9°S, 130.6°E, ∼20 days prior to the cruise, coincident with the end of high winds associated with the SE monsoon. A slab mixed layer model [Pollard and Millard, 1970], forced with National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) model surface winds, confirms that fluxes from the wind to the ocean at this time were sufficient to generate the wave. A very simple model shows that mixing by monsoon-generated inertial waves may add an important and strongly time-dependent aspect to some regions' energy budgets.

Abstract: In a rotating system, the vertical transport of angular momentum by internal gravity waves is independent of height, except at critical levels where the Doppler-shifted wave frequency is equal to plus or minus the Coriolis frequency. If slow rotation is ignored in studying the propagation of internal gravity waves through shear flows, the resulting solutions are in error only at levels where the Doppler-shifted and Coriolis frequencies are comparable.

Abstract: Maps and sections of the large-scale North Atlantic potential vorticity q are presented. Here q is fdρ/dz, where f is the Coriolis frequency, ρ the potential density and z the vertical coordinate. They bear on the general circulation, and on geostrophic waves, instability and turbulence in many ways; both Eulerian and Lagrangian mean circulations proceed along isostrophes, q=constant, in a zero-dissipation region. In a resting fluid q varies simply as the sine of the latitude, but we show here that the wind-driven circulation reshapes the q-field, creating “bowls” and “plateaus” which allow the flow to cross latitude circles. The implied nature of the western boundary current is very different than in classical frictional theory. The maps show a region of uniform potential vorticity in the wind gyre (σθ=26.5–27.0) which fills the ocean between 15–37°N and 20–80°W. Such regions were prominent features of a circulation theory of Rhines and Young (1982a,b). At deeper levels, and close to surface out...