Winter 2007
MWF 10:30-11:20: Lectures in ATG 310c
Th 1:30-2:20: Lab demonstrations in Oceanography's
GFD
Lab), OSB 107, led by
Peter Rhines
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Instructor: Prof. Chris Bretherton breth@atmos.washington.edu ATG 710, x5-7414 Office hours: MW 11:30-12:20, or by appointment. |
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Teaching Assistant: Tom Connolly tompc@u.washington.edu OSB 343, x3-8543 Office hours TuTh 2:30-3:30 |
| Course description | Prerequisites | Syllabus | Textbook | Grading | Schedule | Homework and Exams | Lecture notes | Animations |
| Lecture number | Date | Topic | Suggested Reading (G: Gill, P: Pedlosky, CR: Cushman-Roisin) |
| 1-3 | Jan 3-8 | What is GFD?. Density of air/water. Compressibility and potential density/temperature. Hydrostatic balance in a fluid at rest. Static stability. | G1-2,3.1-3.7; CR 1 |
| 4-8 | Jan 10-22 | Scale analysis. The hydrostatic approximation and pressure coordinates. The Boussinesq approximation. Rotating reference frame. Eqns. of motion for stratified, rotating incompressible flow on a sphere. The f and beta plane approximations. Geostrophic and thermal wind balance. | G4, 7.6-7.7; P1, 2.6-2.9, 6.1-6.2; CR 2-3 |
| 9-10 | Jan 24-26 | Shallow water equations (SWE) and two-layer approximation. | G5.6-5.8, 6.1-6.3, P3.1-3.6 |
| 11-17 | Jan 29- Feb 12 | Rotating linear SWE on an f-plane. Rossby adjustment problem. Potential vorticity. Inertial oscillations, Poincare waves, dispersion and group velocity, Kelvin waves. Flow over a ridge. | G7.2, 8.1-8.6, 10.2-10.5 ; P3.7-3.9; CR 6.2-6.3 |
| 18-20 | Feb 14-21 | Rossby waves on a beta plane. Quasigeostrophy. | G12.1-3, P3.10-3.19; CR 6.4-5 |
| 21-22 | Feb 23-26 | Ekman layers, Ekman pumping, and Sverdrup transport. | G9.6, 9.2, 9.4, 9.12, 11.13, 12.4; P4.1-4.7; 5.1-5.4; CR 5 |
| 23-24 | Feb 28-Mar 2 | Linear internal inertia-gravity waves in a continuously stratified fluid. Critical levels. Mountain waves. | G6.4-6.8, 8.4-8.9 |
| 25-27 | Mar 5-9 | Circulation, vorticity and potential vorticity in a continuously stratified rotating fluid | G7.9-11, P2.1-2.5 |
| Item | Due Date | Download Solutions |
| Homework 1 | due Fr 19 Jan | HW1 Solutions |
| Homework 2 | due Fr 26 Jan | HW2 solutions |
| Homework 3 | due Fr 2 Feb | HW3 solutions |
| Take-home midterm | due Fr 9 Feb | Midterm Solutions |
| Homework #4 | due Fr 16 Feb | HW4 solutions |
| Homework #5 | due Fr 23 Feb | HW5 solutions |
| Homework #6 | due Fr 2 Mar | HW6 solutions |
| Homework #7 | due Fr 9 Mar | HW7 solutions |
| Take-home final | due 5 pm Fr 16 Mar | Final solutions |
Linear shallow water equations on an f-plane.
Slab-symmetric LSWE examples (no y-variation). Dots= fluid parcels at mid-height. Colors= v velocity (red = away, blue = toward you).
LSWE in a channel. Perspective plots with free-surface height perturbation color-shaded and arrows on bottom indicating horizontal fluid velocity vector.
TOPEX view of oceanic equatorial Kelvin waves(10 MB) during 1997-2001 using satellite altimetry that sensitively measures the average sea-surface height to within a few cm. The waves are seen as rapid eastward-propagating pulses of changed sea-surface height along the equator; a prominent Kelvin wave is right at the beginning. If you look carefully when a Kelvin wave hits the S American coast, you can often see coastally-trapped Kelvin waves flit poleward in each hemisphere. Slower changes are associated with the evolution of El Nino and midlatitude ocean circulations.
Matlab scripts relevant to class material will be posted here:
| Name | Description |
| <breth@atmos.washington.edu> |