The theme of the discussion course for this semester is geostrophic turbulence. A motivation is to view weather in the atmosphere and eddying flow in the oceans as macro-turbulence. The strong constraints imposed by Earth’s rotation and by stratification render these flows approximately two-dimensional (2D). The 2D nature then gives rise to some fascinating phenomena, including inverse energy cascade, emergence of coherent structures like zonal jets and vortices, etc.

In this course, we will discuss basic theories for these phenomena. Numerical experiments will be carried out by the participants. The experiments will illustrate the phenomena we cover in the lectures and will facilitate further analysis and discussion.


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

Other references: Journal articles (to be provided)