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Baroclinic instability in a long wave environment. Part I: Review
Author(s) -
Grotjahn Richard
Publication year - 1984
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.49711046507
Subject(s) - baroclinity , instability , nonlinear system , amplitude , mechanics , energetics , physics , classical mechanics , geology , thermodynamics , optics , quantum mechanics
Abstract A brief survey of past theoretical studies of the instability of curving flows is presented. Most of the studies consider linear instability. Finite amplitude, nonlinear studies are not considered here. Most of the early papers were concerned with finding instabilities; later papers include more discussion of the structural and other properties of the unstable modes. It is found that nearly all these studies lack a proper discussion of the energetics of the unstable modes. Proper energy conversions are derived and examined in part II.