On the concentration of near-inertial waves in anticyclones
Abstract
An overlooked conservation law for near-inertial waves propagating in a steady background flow provides a new perspective on the concentration of these waves in regions of anticyclonic vorticity. The conservation law implies that this concentration is a direct consequence of the decrease in spatial scales experienced by an initially homogeneous wave field. Scaling arguments and numerical simulations of a reduced-gravity model of mixed-layer near-inertial waves confirm this interpretation and elucidate the influence of the strength of the background flow relative to the dispersion.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Pub Date:
- June 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1017/jfm.2015.252
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1503.00551
- Bibcode:
- 2015JFM...773R...2D
- Keywords:
-
- Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics;
- Physics - Fluid Dynamics
- E-Print:
- doi:10.1017/jfm.2015.252