Atmosphere Ocean Science Colloquium

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Turbulence, Jets, and Beta-Plumes Studies with Laboratory Altimetry

Speaker: Yakov Afanasyev, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 1302

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2015, 3:30 p.m.

Synopsis:

We will consider different examples of flows on the beta-plane in a rotating tank. These flows include eddies, zonal jets and Rossby waves and are relevant to meso- and large-scale dynamics of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere. The flows are generated by a barotropic or baroclinic forcing either spatially localized or distributed over the domain. Laboratory (optical) altimetry is used to measure the surface elevation and to obtain the velocity fields of the flow, not unlike satellite altimetry used by oceanographers. The beta-plume mechanism will be discussed as a concept which unifies all these different flows.