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Buoyancy‐Driven Rotating Boundary Currents a
Author(s) -
YECKO P. A.,
MEACHAM S. P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb08962.x
Subject(s) - froude number , buoyancy , mechanics , boundary layer , eddy , stratified flows , current (fluid) , boundary (topology) , breakup , physics , boundary current , instability , stratified flow , geology , meteorology , turbulence , ocean current , thermodynamics , mathematics , oceanography , mathematical analysis
A bstract : The structure of boundary currents formed from intermediately dense water introduced into a rotating, stably stratified, two‐layer environment is investigated in a series of laboratory experiments, performed for Froude numbers ranging from 0.01 to 1. The thickness and streamwise velocity profiles in quasi‐steady currents are measured and found to agree with analytic solutions and numerical models. A sloping boundary in a stratified background results in robust stability at all experimental Froude numbers. Such stability is in sharp contrast to the rapid breakup into eddies of such a current flowing against a vertical boundary, or of a current flowing along a slope in a uniform background. The possibility of wave radiation supported by a variety of wave mechanisms found in the ambient fluid might account for the observed stability.