Title: The Scattering of Rossby Waves by Ocean Ridges
Abstract: Overview and equation of motion. Rossby waves, or planetary waves, play a crucial rôle in global oceanic circulation. These waves propagate in regions of non-uniform ambient potential vorticity by conserving the potential vorticity of the flow. Bottom topography and the variation of the Coriolis parameter (a quantity proportional to the normal component of the Earth’s angular velocity at the surface; see, for example, Cushman-Roisin [1]) with latitude both give rise to a nonuniform ambient potential vorticity field. Baroclinic Rossby waves typically propagate at low speeds (relative to the inertial Poincaré waves or coastally trapped Kelvin waves) and have periods of the order of six months or longer. Further details may be found in Pedlosky [2]. We are interested in the interactions of these waves with the topography of the ocean floor, in particular ridges.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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