The themes of the discussion course for this semester are two-dimensional turbulence and zonal jet formation. A motivation is to view weather in the atmosphere and eddying flow in the oceans as macro-turbulence. The anisotropic nature (i.e. largely 2D) of these turbulent flows can give rise to zonal streaks like the eddy-driven jets observed in the mid-latitude atmosphere.

We will closely follow Vallis Chapter 11 and 12.1. The course format is student-led presentation, discussion, and hands-on numerical experiments. Python codes that solve the barotropic vorticity equation will be provided and used.

We will meet “every other week” for 3 hours.

Main reference:
Vallis : Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, 2nd Edition.

Other references:
1. Kundu: Fluid Mechanics (for turbulence introduction)

2. Galperin and Read: Zonal jets

3. Journal articles (to be provided)