Open AccessPlanetary and Gravity Waves in a Polar Basin
Author(s) -
Andrew J. Willmott,
Estanislao Gavilan PascualAhuir
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of physical oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1520-0485
pISSN - 0022-3670
DOI - 10.1175/jpo-d-16-0253.1
Subject(s) - amplitude , physics , barotropic fluid , gravity wave , plane wave , gravitational wave , eigenvalues and eigenvectors , wavenumber , polar , classical mechanics , wave propagation , mathematical analysis , mechanics , optics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
The eigenfrequencies of freely propagating barotropic, divergent, planetary waves and gravity waves in a spherical polar cap are presented using an approximation in which full spherical geometry is retained in the derivation of the wave amplitude equation. Subsequently, the colatitude angle in the coefficients of the wave amplitude equation is fixed, thereby allowing the eigenvalue problem to be solved using analytical methods. The planetary wave frequencies are compared with published results that adopt the polar-plane approximation to solve the equivalent free-wave problem. Low-order planetary wave frequencies calculated in this study agree well with the polar-plane approximation results. The sensitivity of the wave frequencies to the choice of the fixed colatitude in the coefficients of the wave amplitude equation is discussed.