DUBLIN METEOROLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SEMINARS

Rossby waves are important physical processes transmitting information across ocean basins and affecting western boundary currents. In recent years there have been a wide number of papers covering altimetric observations of Rossby waves in many basins. We briefly review some of these findings, and then describe the various signal processing techniques that may be used to extract information on the characteristics of Rossby waves. We illustrate with both height and temperature data from the South Indian Ocean and show how such results can lead to both better theoretical and numerical models.

The history of the turbulence research at NCAR is divided in three periods and discussed. The periods are: 1960-1972, 1972-1984, and 1984 to the present.

The rotating annulus experiments presented in the last chapter reproduce some important qualitative features of the atmosphere’s highly complex general circulation. Sequences of daily weather charts show large-scale wave-like patterns retrogressing with respect to a westerly mean zonal flow. These traveling planetary waves have many similarities with the corresponding Rossby wave regime in a rotating annulus. The atmospheric traveling waves, however, are much less regular than the laboratory waves. They are superimposed, moreover, on standing waves forced by zonal asymmetries of the Earth’s surface, as discussed toward the end of Section 4.4, and in Section 4.6.

Remote sensing and in situ observations of internal tides, solitary waves and bores in shallow water are briefly reviewed in this paper. The emphasis is laid on interpreting SAR images based on oceanographic measurements, and analyzing characteristics of internal waves in the China Seas. Directions for future research are discussed.