Integrable unsteady motion with an application to ocean eddies

Application of the Brown-Samelson theorem, which shows that particle motion is integrable in a class of vorticity-conserving, two-dimensional incompressible flows, is extended here to a class of explicit time dependent dynamically balanced flows in multilayered systems. Particle motion for nonsteady...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nonlinear processes in geophysics 1998-09, Vol.5 (3), p.145-151
Main Authors: Kirwan, Jr, A. D., Lipphardt, Jr, B. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics
Earth Sciences
Physics
Sciences of the Universe
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Application of the Brown-Samelson theorem, which shows that particle motion is integrable in a class of vorticity-conserving, two-dimensional incompressible flows, is extended here to a class of explicit time dependent dynamically balanced flows in multilayered systems. Particle motion for nonsteady two-dimensional flows with discontinuities in the vorticity or potential vorticity fields (modon solutions) is shown to be integrable. An example of a two-layer modon solution constrained by observations of a Gulf Stream ring system is discussed.
ISSN:1607-7946
1023-5809
1607-7946
DOI:10.5194/npg-5-145-1998