Stochastic dynamics of baroclinic waves

Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1993)050<4044:SDOBW>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:5141590

Farrell, B F ^[1]; Ioannou, P J ^[2]

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1. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)

The maintenance of variance and attendant heat flux in linear, forced, dissipative baroclinic shear flows subject to stochastic excitation is examined. The baroclinic problem is intrinsically nonnormal and its stochastic dynamics is found to differ significantly from the more familiar stochastic dynamics of normal systems. When the shear is sufficiently great in comparison to dissipative effects, stochastic excitation supports highly enhanced variance levels in these nonnormal systems compared to variance levels supported by the same forcing and dissipation in related normal systems. The eddy variance and associated heat flux are found to arise in response to transient amplification of a subset of forcing functions that obtain energy from the mean flow and project this energy on a distinct subset of response functions (EOFs) that are in turn distinct from the set of normal modes of the system. A method for obtaining the dominant forcing and response functions as well as the distribution of heat flux for a given flow is described.

• OSTI ID: 5141590
• Journal Information: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States) Vol. 50:24; ISSN JAHSAK; ISSN 0022-4928
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110*
AIR FLOW
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
DISTURBANCES
FLUID FLOW
FORCING FUNCTIONS
GAS FLOW
HEAT FLUX
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES