Geometric Thermodynamics as a Tool for Analysis and Prediction in Oceanography,
Abstract
The physical parameters that are important to oceanographers often have a stochastic nature and can be represented as the sum of a deterministic average and a random component of zero mean. Coastline shapes, water depth and fluid density are examples of such quantities. When the random components are small, perturbation methods can be used to calculate their effects on the mean flow. However, in certain cases it is the derivative of the random component which is of importance and that can have a very large magnitude. Consequently, the ostensibly small stochastic part may well be more influential than the smooth average component. This paper presents a technique for quantifying roughness that can be easily implemented for experimental data sets and apply the method to some bathymetric examples. Moreover, to examine how such randomness will influence ocean flows we consider the problem of predicting the dispersion relations for topographic Rossby waves propagating in the presence of a rough ocean floor. The random depth and its derivative act as coefficients in the equations governing topographic Rossby waves. This papers analytically and numerically examines the solutions to those equations and consider how they change as the roughness of the bottom increases.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADP008746
Entities
People
- Anatoly Odulo
- Nessan Fitzmaurice
- Wojbor Woyczynski
Organizations
- Case Western Reserve University