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Rossby waves with negative equivalent depths – comments on a note by G. A. Corby
Author(s) -
Lindzen R. S.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49709440116
Subject(s) - barotropic fluid , rossby wave , atmosphere (unit) , doppler effect , constant (computer programming) , physics , oscillation (cell signaling) , compressibility , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , chemistry , astronomy , computer science , programming language , biochemistry
The results of Corby (1967) on the effect of constant angular zonal velocity on Rossby‐Haurwitz waves in a barotropic fluid layer are extended, in an approximate manner, to waves in an infinite compressible atmosphere. It is shown that the main effect of a constant zonal basic flow in the wave equation is to doppler shift the wave's frequency. However, an important non‐doppler effect enters into the lower boundary condition. The lower boundary condition determines the free oscillations' equivalent depths which now depend on the horizontal wave numbers and can be negative – consistent with Corby's results. For the atmosphere, the more negative the equivalent depths, the more tightly the oscillation is confined to the ground.