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Equatorial inertial instability with full Coriolis force

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2017

R. C. Kloosterziel Open the ORCID record for R. C. Kloosterziel [Opens in a new window] ,
G. F. Carnevale  and
P. Orlandi
R. C. Kloosterziel*
Affiliation:
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
G. F. Carnevale
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
P. Orlandi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Aeronautica, University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
*
†Email address for correspondence: rudolf@soest.hawaii.edu
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Abstract

The zonally symmetric inertial instability of oceanic near-equatorial flows is studied through high-resolution numerical simulations. In homogeneous upper layers, the instability of surface-confined westward currents implies potentially fast downward mixing of momentum with a predictable final equilibrium. With increasing Reynolds number, latitudinal scales along the surface associated with the instability become ever smaller and initially the motions are ever more concentrated underneath the surface. The results suggest that even if the upper layer is stratified, it may still be necessary to include the full Coriolis force in the dynamics rather than use the traditional $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$-plane approximation.

JFM classification

Instability: Nonlinear instability Geophysical and Geological Flows: Ocean processes Geophysical and Geological Flows: Rotating flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 825 , 25 August 2017 , pp. 69 - 108
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Copyright
© 2017 Cambridge University Press 

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