Publication Abstracts

Robinson 1985

Robinson, W.A., 1985: Interactions Among Planetary Waves and the Generation of Traveling Long Waves. Ph.D. thesis. Columbia University.

This thesis is an investigation of the mechanisms through which planetary waves interact. It is shown that waves interact when wave transience or dissipation causes wave-mean flow interactions, or when waves with different phase velocities coexist. These mechanisms are studied in a quasigeostrophic numerical model with 8 horizontal modes on 50 levels. Four different paradigms for wave-wave interactions are investigated. Wave-mean flow interactions resulting from dissipation cause interactions among stationary waves. The steady response of the model to stationary forcing is computed in order to elucidate the effects of wave-wave interactions on the structures of stationary waves. Wave-mean flow interactions resulting from wave transience also induce wave-wave interactions. These are explored by applying transient forcing to a single wave in the presence of stationary waves. The results of such experiments are relevant to the large fluctuations in the amplitudes of planetary waves that precede many stratospheric sudden warmings. Interactions between waves with different phase velocities are investigated by simultaneously forcing westward traveling and stationary waves. The results suggest an explanation for the observed negative correlation between the stratospheric amplitudes of waves 1 and 2. The interactions of traveling waves with stationary waves also lead to an instability of the stationary waves. The resulting eastward and westward traveling waves share many of the features of observed traveling waves.

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BibTeX Citation

@phdthesis{ro01800s,
  author={Robinson, W. A.},
  title={Interactions Among Planetary Waves and the Generation of Traveling Long Waves},
  year={1985},
  school={Columbia University},
  address={New York, N.Y.},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - THES
ID  - ro01800s
AU  - Robinson, W. A.
PY  - 1985
BT  - Interactions Among Planetary Waves and the Generation of Traveling Long Waves
PB  - Columbia University
CY  - New York, N.Y.
ER  -

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